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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



International donation Series 

EDITED BY 

WILLIAM T. HARRIS, A.M., LL.D. 



Volume XV. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/schoolsupervisio01pick 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES. 

Edited by W. T. Harris. 



It is proposed to publish, under the above title, a library for teachers 
and school managers, and text-books for normal classes. The aim will 
be to provide works of a useful practical character in the broadest sense. 
The following conspectus will show the ground to be covered by the series : 

I.— History of Education, (a.) Original systems as ex- 
pounded by their founders, (b.) Critical histories which set forth the 
customs of the past and point out their advantages and defects, explain- 
ing the grounds of their adoption, and also of their final disuse. 

II.— Educational Criticism, (a.) The noteworthy arraign- 
ments which educational reformers have put forth against existing sys- 
tems : these compose the classics of pedagogy, (b.) The critical histories 
above mentioned. 

III.— Systematic Treatises on the Theory of Edu- 
cation, (a.) Works written from the historical standpoint; these, 
for the most part, show a tendency to justify the traditional course of 
study and to defend the prevailing methods of instruction, (b.) Works 
written from critical standpoints, and to a greater or less degree revolu- 
tionary in their tendency. 

IV.— The Art of Education, (a.) Works on instruction 
and discipline, and the practical details of the school-room, (b.) Works 
on the organization and supervision of schools. 

Practical insight into the educational methods in vogue can not be 
attained without a knowledge of the process by which they have come to 
be established. For this reason it is proposed to give special prominence 
to the history of the systems that have prevailed. 

Again, since history is incompetent to furnish the ideal of the future, 
it is necessary to devote large space to works of educational criticism. 
Criticism is the purifying process by which ideals are rendered clear and 
potent, so that progress becomes possible. 

History and criticism combined make possible a theory of the whole. 
For, with an ideal toward which the entire movement tends, and an ac- 
count of the phases that have appeared in time, the connected develop- 
ment of the whole can be shown, and all united into one system. 

Lastly, after the science, comes the practice. The art of education is 
treated in special works devoted to the devices and technical details use- 
ful in the school-room. 

It is believed that the teacher does not need authority so much as in- 
sight in matters of education. When he understands the theory of edu- 
cation and the history of its growth, and has matured his own point 
of view by careful study of the critical literature of education, then he is 
competent to select or invent such practical devices as are best adapted 
to his own wants. 

The series will contain works from European as well as American 
authors, and will be under the editorship of W. T. Hakris, A. M., LL. D. 



Vol. I. The Philosophy of Education. By Johann Karl 

Friedrich Rosenkranz. $1.50. 
Vol. II. A History of Education. By Prof. F. V. N. Painter, 

of Roanoke, Virginia. $1.50. 

Vol. III. The Rise and Early Constitution of Univer- 
sities. With a Survey of Mediaeval Education. By S. S. Laurie, 
LL. D., Professor of the Institutes and History of Education in the 
University of Edinburgh. $1.50. 

Vol. IV. The Ventilation and Warming of School 
Buildings. By Gilbert B. Morrison, Teacher of Physics and 
Chemistry in Kansas City High School. 75 cents. 

Vol. V. The Education of Man. By Friedrich Froebel. 
Translated from the German and annotated by W. N. Hailmann, 
Superintendent of Public Schools at La Porte, Indiana. $1.50. 

Vol. VI. Elementary Psychology and Education. By 

Joseph Baldwin, Principal of the Sam Houston State Normal 
School, Huntsville, Texas. $1.50. 

Vol. VII. The Senses and the Will. Observations concern- 
ing the Mental Development of the Human Being in the First Years 
of Life. By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in Jena. Trans- 
lated from the original German, by H. W. Brown, Teacher in the 
State "Normal School at Worcester, Mass. Part I of The Mind op 
the Child. $1.50. 

Vol. VIII. Memory. What it is and how to improve it. By David 
Kay, F. R. G. S. $1.50. 

Vol. IX. The Development of the Intellect. Observa- 
tions concerning the Mental Development of the Human Being in 
the First Years of Life. By W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology in 
Jena. Translated from the original German, by H. W. Brown, 
Teacher in the State Normal School at Worcester, Mass. Part II 
of The Mind of the Child. $1.50. 

Vol. X. HOW to Study Geography. By Francis W. Parker. 
Prepared for the Professional Training Class of the Cook County 
Normal School. $1.50. 

Vol. XI. Education in the United States. Its History 
from the Earliest Settlements. By Richard G. Boone, A. M., Pro- 
fessor of Pedagogy in Indiana University. $1.50. 

Vol. XII. European Schools. Or what I Saw in the Schools of 
Germany, France, Austria, and Switzerland. By L. R. Klemm, 
Ph. D., Author of " Chips from a Teacher's Workshop " ; and nu- 
merous school-books. $2.00. 

Vol. XIII. Practical Hints for the Teachers of Public 
Schools. By George Howland, Superintendent of the Chicago 
Schools. $1.00. 

Vol. XIV. Pestalozzi : His Life and Work. By Roger De 
Guimps. Authorized translation from the second French edition, 
by J. Russell, B. A., Assistant Master in University College School, 
London. With an Introduction by Rev. R. H. Quick, M. A. 

Vol. XV. School Supervision. By J. L. Pickard, LL. D. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES 







SCHOOL SUPERVISION 



«*:& by 

J. LfPICKAED, LL.D. 




NEW YORK 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1890 






Copyright, 1890, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 






TO THE FRIENDS OF THE 

"ROUND TABLE " 

THIS LITTLE BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 



EDITORS PREFACE. 



There is no other device in our school system that 
has done so much for the improvement of onr schools 
in organization, and in methods of instruction and disci- 
pline, as the superintendency. As early as 1839 the city 
of Providence, Rhode Island, appointed a city superin- 
tendent. His duties were similar to those that are now 
devolved upon this class of officers. Boston, twelve 
years later, established a similar office, and elected the 
person then supervising the schools of Providence 
(Nathan Bishop) to fill the place. 

The Jesuits long before others — early in the seven- 
teenth century — had demonstrated the value of graded 
supervision to secure efficiency in schools. One may 
study profitably the history of their education on this 
point as well as on another important matter — that of 
emulation as a device for arousing and stimulating the 
pupil to activity. Educational history shows us the 
spectacle of ideas put in practice and tested in their 
entire compass of possibilities. Their limits can not be 
found except by pushing them to extremes, so as to 
cause reaction from the side of other principles and de- 
vices of acknowledged equal validity. The history of 



viii SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

supervision in the Jesuit schools has these lessons. But 
the supervision of American common schools has for 
the most part grown up without profiting bj the study 
of experiments made elsewhere. Its fifty years of his- 
tory have sufficed to develop, however, nearly all the 
extremes and reveal the limits within which it is most 
efficient. 

While the first noteworthy attempt to establish su- 
pervision in a city dates from 1839 in Ehode Island, 
the first establishment of a State superintendency worthy 
of the name was made by Massachusetts two years ear- 
lier (1837). The ever-renowned Horace Mann entered 
then on his career. His work is a perennial example of 
the value of good supervision. Perhaps it is not too 
much to say that the schools of his State quadrupled in 
efficiency within ten years after his inauguration. A 
comparison of this agency with that of a school fund in 
promoting the cause of education shows its superiority. 

The State of Connecticut had obtained in 1795 a 
school fund of one million dollars from the sale of its 
" Western Keserve." Connecticut was thus enabled to 
provide and did provide from the beginning of this 
century an elementary common-school education for all 
classes free of expense. Its backwoods districts held 
their three months schools and its more populous dis- 
tricts held schools of six or eight months' duration and 
supplemented the proceeds of the school fund by rate- 
bills. Had the law disbursing this fund provided that 
each district receiving it should raise an equal amount 
by taxation, there is no question that Connecticut would 
have retained its supremacy in popular education, for 
it would have been the first State to invent or adopt 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. J x 

new devices for the perfection of its system. But its 
reliance on the school fund for the entire support of its 
schools proved a bane in the end. 

Before 1837 Connecticut surpassed the other States 
in the education of its people. But the mighty engine 
of supervision wielded by a Horace Mann immediately 
turned the scale in favor of Massachusetts. Municipal 
taxation proved a far more powerful instrument than a 
school fund, although the latter had done good service 
in its day.* 

For the support of schools in sparsely settled rural 
districts, the State school fund and the quota assigned 
them from the State school-tax are still the most impor- 
tant item. For cities and wealthy communities the 
local municipal tax is the chief and indeed a sufficient 
resource, except in those States that have limited the 
rate of taxation by constitutional provision. 

The editor of this volume remembers many visits of 
inspection made by him to the principal cities of the 
country in the decade 1867 to 1876. While many 
school systems excited admiration for general excellence 
or for special features, he found no system to compare 
with that of Chicago while under the supervision of 
Mr. Pickard, the author of the present volume. To 
procure for this Education Series a volume embodying 
the results of an experience so successful has therefore 
seemed very desirable. Before assuming the charge of 

* The editor of this series may be pardoned for mentioning the cir- 
cumstance that his early schooling took place first in a backwoods school 
district in Connecticut entirely supported by the school fund ; and, sec- 
ondly, in the city schools of Providence, then under the supervision of 
Mr. Bishop. 



X SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

the Chicago schools, Mr. Pickard had done important 
service as State Superintendent of Wisconsin, and since 
that time he has for nine years presided over the State 
University of Iowa. 

Inasmuch as the city superintendent is valuable 
chiefly for what he accomplishes through his influence 
on his corps of teachers, with a view to a discovery of 
the means by which this influence is secured and its re- 
sults made efficient, I call attention especially to the 
chapters in the following work that reveal the method 
and policy of the superintendent's action. 

The discussion of the subject of examinations and 
promotions in Chapter XI will prove instructive to all 
who have been disposed to make the graded system a 
sort of Procrustean bed, which held back talented pupils 
and unduly forced the dull ones. In this chapter also 
the legitimate uses of written examinations are admirably 
presented. 

Chapters XIY and XY, together with Appendix A, 
are devoted to the ever-important theme of moral edu- 
cation — a question that is now exciting more attention 
than ever, owing to the active movements in progress 
tending to secularize the instruction given in the com- 
mon schools. 

W. T. Harris. 

Washington, D. C, May y 1890. 



AUTHOE'S PREFACE. 



"When leaving the work of supervision of schools, 
which had occupied my thought for more than twenty 
years in town, State, and city, partial friends expressed 
the wish that some of the fruits of my experience 
might be put in permanent form. 

Twelve years have passed — years of careful review, 
years of discovery of error in some directions. 

The author deems it his privilege to acknowledge 
the errors discovered, and to present the truth as re- 
vealed to him by means of the clearer light of the 
twelve years of retrospect. It will not be difficult, for 
those who have followed the practice of his active 
supervision, to detect the changes in theory. The 
chapter on examination and promotion of pupils will 
reveal a greater change than any other part of the 
work. 

It lias been impossible to treat of supervision with- 
out constant thought of those whose work is supervised. 
Teachers may find in this volume help, if they are led 
to view their work from the standpoint of the super- 
intendent. 

Those who are in process of training in the Normal 



x ii SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

School may be helped in some directions by study of 
these pages. 

One part of the Appendix has a special application 
to the work of the teacher, while it also furnishes hints 
to superintendents who are often called on for advice 
in matters of discipline of troublesome boys. 

The author acknowledges his indebtedness to those 
from whom he has taken the liberty to make quota- 
tions, to an extent far beyond the extracts he has made. 
Their writings and their personal counsels have helped 
him in his search for the truth. 

'No claim to originality is asserted. Eeaders of the 
book as well as the author will be indebted to kind and 
helpful friends who have labored in similar fields, and 
who kindly permit the binding up of some of the 
sheaves after their reaping. 

J. L. PlCKAED. 

Iowa City, Iowa, February, 1890. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Editor's Preface . . . . . . . . vii 

Author's Preface xi 

I. — Introductory ......... 1 

II. — Historical Sketch of Supervision of Schools in the 

United States 4 

III. — The Character of School Supervision . . . .16 

(1) Incidental ; (2) partial ; (3) professional. 

IV. — State Supervision ......... 20 

Political influences ; qualifications of the Superintendent ; 
insight into popular education ; ability to convert knowledge 
into force ; tact in controlling ; ability to present his views ; 
judicial mind ; student of social problems ; patriotic but not 
partisan ; integrity. 

V. — County Superintendency . 28 

Statistics show that three fourths of the States have county 
superintendents or equivalent officers. 

VI. — City Supervision 38 

VII. — City Superintendent of Schools 39 

His qualifications as examiner ; as inspector ; as supervisor. 

VIII. — The City Superintendent's Relation to Pupils . . 43 

Importance of curiosity in the child ; not to be repressed ; 
encouragement to express his ideas and knowledge. 

IX. — The Superintendent's Relation to Teachers . . .49 

1, Leadership ; 2, confidence derived from (a) examination, 
(6) from trial of teacher's ability to teach, (c) from inspec- 
tion of results of work as seen in the progress of the pupils ; 
3, patience ; 4, justice ; 5, helpfulness ; 6, appointment, trans- 
fer, and dismissal of teachers. 

X. — Gradation and Course of Study 68 

The Kindergarten ; the manual training school ; the high 
school a legitimate part of common-school education ; it 
obliterates caste distinctions by elevating the lower classes ; 



x iv SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

it is economical for the community ; it has been long estab- 
lished in our system. 

XL — Promotions and Examinations 91 

There should be frequent reclassification by promotion of 
the pupils able to do more work, into the class above ; annual 
promotions not so good as frequent ones ; the objects of ex- 
aminations, (1) to stimulate pupils, (2) to enlighten teachers as 
to the results of their work, (3) to aid in classification and 
promotion of pupils. 

XII. — Relation of Superintendent to Parents and Patrons . Ill 
XIII. — Relation op Superintendent to the Physical Training 

of Pupils . - 114 

XIV. — Relation of Superintendent to Moral Training . .122 

Religion necessary for the best moral results ; a non-secta- 
rian religion necessary. 

XV. — Relation of Superintendent to Government and Disci- 
pline of Pupils 126 

Cruel and unusual punishments to be prevented ; in what 
sense the expression in loco parentis is to be understood ; 
the object of punishment ; too rigid discipline develops dis- 
honesty on the part of pupils ; the disuse of corporal punish- 
ment ; the excellent effect of placing pupils on probation. 

XVI. — The Relation of Superintendent to the Board of Edu- 
cation . 136 

The three stages of development in the history of the Super- 
intendency : (a) the mechanical stage, (6) the pseudo-intel- 
lectual stage, (c) the stage of scientific method. 

XVII. — The Relation of the Superintendent to Agencies for 

Improvement of Teachers 140 

The large proportion of teachers inexperienced ; the lack of 
professional spirit results in mechanical methods; these 
difficulties overcome by professional schools and by teachers' 
associations. 

Appendix A. — Relation of Public Schools to Morality and 

Religion . . 149 

The home, the Church, and the State ; Bible-reading in 
school a potent means of increasing moral influence. 

Appendix B. — What shall we do with our Boys? . . .157 

Boys 1 peculiarities ; bad conduct as a fault ; as a crime ; 
necessity of discriminating the two ; sympathy with boy- 
hood ; boys sometimes driven to crime by improper treat- 
ment of their faults ; the teacher to make use of the pupil's 
directive power to correct his tendency to mischief and crime. 



SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

In" every branch of human industry the importance of 
supervision grows with the specialization of labor. The 
more minute the subdivision of labor, the greater the need 
of supervision. Each laborer is by practice perfected in 
the work to which he is assigned, and is confined to a 
narrow field. He knows that his employer expects of him 
the best results possible for him to attain. His mind is 
bent upon the special work assigned him. No thought is 
bestowed upon the relation his work bears to that of his 
fellow-workman. To him, what he does is complete in 
itself. He has accepted his place in the plan about which 
he gives himself no anxiety. But his work is only a part, 
a small part, in the great plan. In time and in amount of 
work he stands in close relation to others, but he knows 
not how to determine either. He might acquire the 
knowledge, but at the expense of his efficiency in the 
special work he is expected to perform. Over him and 
his neighbors in other parts of the divided work stands 
one whose special work it is to adjust the parts, himself 
familiar with each, but freed from active work in any 
part. He is the overseer, the superintendent. Time 
saved, and efficiency of special workmen increased, justify 
2 



2 SCHOOL SUPERVISION". 

his employment. This is a fact so well established in the 
industrial world that the omission of a superintendent in 
any industry of considerable magnitude would be regarded 
as sheer folly, provoking and deserving failure. 

School-work furnishes no exception to this general 
rule. It may be said to demand closer supervision than 
industries more material in their character. For much 
manual labor there is a rapidly growing substitution of 
machinery. The more complex machines do the work of 
many hands. In some instances a single machine brings 
out the finished product, all its parts properly adjusted. 
Less supervision and more invention are needed. 

But for the teacher's work there is no possible substi- 
tution of machinery. With increase of population there 
is an increased call for divided work. The material 
wrought upon is not of such character as to insure like 
results from the treatment proper for wood or iron. 
Were it so, even then supervision would be essential in 
order that parts of the work may be properly adjusted. 
But in school- work the superintendent becomes an adviser 
as well as a supervisor. He must not content himself 
with seeing that work is properly done, but he must be 
prepared to guide the doer. 

It is not to be denied that in special instances as good 
results are observable in schools without supervision as in 
those most thoroughly supervised. These are individual 
cases, however, where the tact and knowledge of the suc- 
cessful teacher are of a high order. Such a teacher has 
the elements of a good supervisor, and becomes such to his 
own work. Such a teacher, combining the qualities of 
supervisor and teacher, may succeed far better than the 
average teacher, however thoroughly supervised by a pro- 
fessional superintendent. 

But special cases can not determine the course best 



INTRODUCTORY. 3 

adapted to general work. ¥or will the limiting of an ex- 
ceptional teacher to the walls of a single room be the part 
of wisdom. Let such a one be placed where his power 
will be felt and his influence multiplied a hundred-fold, 
and the uplift of a hundred schools will more than atone 
for the loss of his service to one. 

It may be argued that the influence of a successful 
teacher will be felt by other teachers more sensibly than 
would be the case were he transferred to supervision ; for 
in his school-room the practical application of his theories 
can be studied. This would be true were his school-room 
accessible to all his fellow-teachers, and were they at lib- 
erty to visit it whenever their needs of counsel were strong- 
est. These conditions do not and can not obtain in any 
large system of schools. If the contrary were true, there 
would result a large number of imitators who would make 
themselves ridiculous in the attempt. The practical ap- 
plication of a theory depends upon the individual's con- 
ception of the theory, and upon the individual's tact in 
its application. Efforts to copy shut out the inspiration 
of theorizing, and kill the tact which a personal attempt 
to make theory into practice would develop. It is more 
than likely that a majority of teachers would become dis- 
heartened in witnessing marked success, or at least, feeling 
their own inability to attain it, would cease from effort 
and plod on in the old way. Such teachers may be stimu- 
lated more by hearing than by seeing, and, by being told of 
a better way, they will make some progress in the right 
direction. 

For the reason that it is impossible for all teachers to 
become personally acquainted with the work of any one, 
however excellent — and for the still further reason that 
many would become disheartened were they to attempt 
imitation — it is best that special excellence should be 



4 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

placed where it can be made more generally available than 
within the walls of a single school-room. 

The results of such special excellence in a teacher's 
instruction are limited to a few pupils, and to these only 
for a brief period under present forms of gradation and 
promotion. Transfer of signal ability to the work of 
supervision will widen its influence and will extend the 
time of its application. 

It is not the province of this book to argue the need 
of supervision, but rather to give such hints as may prove 
helpful to those who undertake the work of supervision. 



CHAPTER II. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION" OF SCHOOLS IN 
THE UNITED STATES. 

The American colonies early recognized the impor- 
tance of education, but, aside from the founding of col- 
leges, seminaries, and universities, little was done in a 
general way toward fostering the interests of popular edu- 
cation. The Church organized a school, built a school- 
house upon the same lot with the church edifice, collected 
rate-bills, and provided a course of study preparatory to 
the college. The Church was dominant in civil affairs. 
The duty of maintaining schools of a popular character 
was in some instances urged upon the towns with more or 
less success. By authority of law, schools of different 
grades were established as population increased. The 
courts sometimes took cognizance of neglect of duty on 
the part of the towns. No system appeared. The schools 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION. 5 

were what the public sentiment of the localities made 
them. They were good, bad, or indifferent. 

No special effort was made to arouse interest outside 
the town most awake and best provided with school facili- 
ties. JSTo transfer of excellence apparent in the favored 
town was secured to other towns, for want of a proper 
channel of such transfer. Clergymen were the " school 
committees," and in many cases also the teachers. With 
such multiplicity of duties falling into their hands, it is 
plain that time would fail them for any other service than 
that of their immediate parishes. They were efficient so 
far as they undertook the work. Their training had been 
in the college, and the elements of collegiate studies were 
foremost in their thoughts. Their occupation colored 
their instruction, or their control of that given by others. 
" To read, to write, to cipher," were preparatory to the 
inevitable Latin, Greek, and mathematics of the college 
course. The Bible was in large measure the reading- 
book. The catechism was more important than the arith- 
metic. The shades of religious instruction were as varied 
as the tenets of the dominant churchmen. In some of 
the colonies there was a strong element of opposition to 
religious domination, but it was for a long time futile in 
its opposition. More than a century passed before any- 
thing was accomplished in severance of Church and State 
in school affairs. More than two centuries rolled by be- 
fore, by State action, public schools became entirely free 
schools. During these centuries a gradual process of evo- 
lution in matters of control had gone forward. Promi- 
nent in this evolution has been the work of school support 
and of school supervision. As civil authorities have given 
more thought to the general support of schools, so have 
they seen the need of efficient supervision. 

As the colonies were about to enter into the conditions 



Q SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

of Statehood, the Congress of the Confederation in 1785 
laid the foundation for State support of schools. From 
the territory of the new States to be organized out of the 
public domain there was set apart one thirty-sixth part of 
the area (one section out of each township, according to 
congressional survey) as a fund whose sale was to be ef- 
fected by State authority, and the proceeds permanently 
invested so that the income might be available for the 
maintenance of public schools. Another portion of pub- 
lic lands, two townships in each State, was devoted in 
1787 to the support of higher institutions of learning. 
The first donation was wisely made in small parcels uni- 
formly distributed, so that every township of six miles 
square contained within itself one square mile of territory 
devoted to school purposes. Nor was this small "school 
section " left to the whim or caprice of the township au- 
thorities as to its location. It was definitely located by 
the act which granted it.* The two townships given for 
" seminary purposes " were left for State authorities to lo- 
cate wherever public lands were found unsold in the State. 
The methods of disposal of the common-school grants 
were left to the control of the several States. This in- 
volved, of course, supervision of this fund. State officers 
were made in many cases ex officio " School Land Com- 
missioners." Conditions were attached to the distribution 
of the proceeds of the fund thus created which involved 
supervision by county and by township officers, and still 
further by school-district officers where the district was the 
unit of organization. Thus far does the establishment of a 
fund for support of schools involve the work of supervision 
of the material appliances in the matter of public education. 

* The sixteenth section ; since 1848 the thirty-sixth section also 
is granted. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION. 7 

The machinery of organization and of supply of means 
has in it little of importance when compared with the ap- 
plication of means to the education of children. By the 
Ordinance of 1787 the cause of popular education was spe- 
cially commended to the watchful care of the States. The 
stability of free institutions was recognized as resting in 
the intelligence and virtue of the citizens. These impor- 
tant foundation-stones require careful shaping under the 
direction of skilled labor. Unlike the stones quarried for 
material structures, the substance employed by the intel- 
lectual and the moral builder is plastic, easily molded if 
taken at the proper time. That time is childhood. For 
the children of the community schools were established. 

The towns, especially in the New England colonies, 
maintained good schools. In other colonies parishes un- 
dertook school support. Teachers were well qualified. 
They came from the well-educated classes, often from the 
ranks of the clergy. School committees were charged 
with the duty of inspecting the schools. These commit- 
tees were from the learned men of the towns or the par- 
ishes. They took commendable pride in seeing that the 
" master " did his duty and earned his salary. A few days 
at most sufficed for this purpose. Then the State stepped 
into direction of school affairs, and made that direction 
felt through county and town and district officers. The 
old school committee served as a model for the town super- 
intendency in the newer States, which were not held to 
the customs of the older States. The " school committee " 
still maintained its hold in the older States, and has not 
yet disappeared there. In the cities the theory of the 
" school committee " finds its expression in the " Board of 
Education." 

With the growth of population, and the increased de- 
mand upon the time their chief duties required of those 



8 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

who had acted in an ex officio capacity as supervisors of 
school funds and of school instruction, and with the spe- 
cialization of labor which has grown out of the pressure of 
this demand, and following the custom which all indus- 
tries, manual and intellectual, have found essential to their 
most effective prosecution, a special officer for supervision 
of schools — town, county, or State — has become a matter 
of history, and has also within itself become subject to the 
operation of the principle of division of labor. 

Modifications have resulted from experience. The 
original supervision by town authority has given place to 
county supervision. State supervision has had two or 
three periods of trial, and has found permanence within 
the last fifty years. 

The original unit of school organization — the school 
district — has in large measure disappeared except in mat- 
ters of finance and of school-buildings. Supervision of the 
work of instruction has been assumed under State direc- 
tion by town officers where the town is made the unit of 
organization, or in the newer States and in some of the 
older States (since the changes after the civil war), by 
county officers. County superintendents, or county boards 
for examination of teachers, or secretaries of county boards, 
ex officio superintendents, are found in thirty-two of the 
forty-two States of the Union. In Louisiana, " parish 
superintendents" take the same place as county super- 
intendents elsewhere. In New York, superintendents of 
districts composed of parts of counties, or in a few in- 
stances of an entire county, have duties similar to those 
of county superintendents in other States. Mississippi 
and Nevada, after adopting the county system of super- 
vision, have left it practically void of effect in recent 
years. Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, Rhode Island, and Delaware retain town supervision. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION. 9 

Of the last-named States, Connecticut and Delaware pro- 
vide for examination of teachers in part by " State Boards 
of Examiners." There remain but four States holding 
exclusively to town supervision.* 

It must not be inferred, from what has been stated, 
that the States admitted to the Union since the establish- 
ment of our national Government are to be credited with 
State organization of school systems. 

From Kiddle and Schem's Cyclopaedia of Education, 
and from various reports of the United States Commis- 
sioner of Education, the following facts are compiled : 

Massachusetts enacted in 1642 a school law, which in 
its essential features continues in force to this date. 

Connecticut in like manner in 1650. 

Pennsylvania followed in 1682. 

New Jersey, having provided the basis of a school 
fund in 1683, passed a school law in 1693. 

New Hampshire followed (till 1680 a part of Massa- 
chusetts) in 1693. 

Maryland in 1723. 

Georgia in 1783. 

New York enacted a State law, the first after the or- 
ganization of the United States Government (an act had 
been passed in 1732 to aid a public school in the city of 
New York), in 1795. 

Virginia in 1796. 

Ehode Island in 1800. 

South Carolina (a school fund for the poor) in 
1811. 



* Michigan, after nine years' trial of county superintendency 
(1867-1875), abolished it in name, but retains it in fact as to exami- 
nation of teachers through a county board whose secretary may be 
superintendent ex officio* 



10 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

North Carolina (by legislative committee, not perfected 
till 1825) in 1816. 

Delaware in 1829. 

The thirteen colonies thus recognized the obligations, 
resting upon them, but they were not alone in this recog- 
nition. The States that were admitted to the Union with- 
out the favorable provisions by congressional grants, which 
all the later States have realized, organized State school sys- 
tems in order and date as follows : 

Vermont in 1782. 

Kentucky in 1805. 

Maine (first organized with Massachusetts) in 1821. 

Tennessee (aided by special grant of six hundred and 
forty acres in each area of six miles square, made in 1806) 
in 1823. 

Legislative requirements met with scanty compliance 
in many of the States above named. In some instances, 
except in case of higher institutions of learning, the law 
remained a dead letter upon the statute-book. 

Each of the remaining twenty-five States, except West 
Virginia and Texas, has felt the moral obligation imposed 
by congressional land grants, and has organized a State 
system of schools, with the Constitution of the State as its 
basis. West Virginia, at first organized with Virginia, 
found the education of her people essential to freedom, 
on account of which she sought separation from the par- 
ent State. Texas, by virtue of special terms of admis- 
sion, retains control of her public lands ; but she has fol- 
lowed the requirements made of other newer States, and 
has set apart for school purposes the same territory as 
provided for in congressional land grants to States or- 
ganized out of the public domain. 

It by no means follows that State action extended to 
the supervision of schools as now obtaining. The influ- 



HISTOKICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION. H 

ence of Massachusetts and Connecticut lias been sensibly 
felt in all the States of the Northwest in their school su- 
pervision, and the influence of these newer States has 
reacted upon many of the original States, notably in the 
matter of State supervision. At first it was incidental, an 
added duty demanded of some State officer whose chief 
service lay in another direction. By degrees the entire 
time of a State officer was required, and now the distinct 
department of education is presided over by a " State 
Superintendent," " State Commissioner," or " State Secre- 
tary," who devotes his entire time to the administration 
of school affairs, to the study of school systems of other 
States and of foreign nations, to advise regarding legisla- 
tion, to the collection of statistics, to the improvement of 
both matter and method of instruction, to the awakening 
of public interest, to the economical use of public funds, 
to the advice of county and township officers, to the uni- 
fication of the school- work of his State, to the correction 
of manifest errors and to the transfer of special excel- 
lences, to hearing and deciding questions on appeal from 
decisions of inferior officers. 

As these and other duties press upon him, assistance is 
provided in deputies, agents, or clerks. Much that origi- 
nally belonged to the State superintendency of schools is 
shared with other State officers — notably that part of the 
work pertaining to management of school funds. Much 
has been added to his duties as schools have partaken of 
that spirit of progress which has characterized all depart- 
ments of our national life. 

The following table will show the title of the State 
officer, the mode of election or appointment, the length of 
term of service where a limit is given, and the year in 
which the present system of State supervision was crystal- 
lized into some degree of permanence : 



12 



SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 



Michigan 

Massachusetts 

Kentucky 

Rhode Island. 

New Jersey... 
"Vermont 

Iowa 

Wisconsin 

California 

Indiana 

Ohio 

New York 

Maine 

Illinois 

Minnesota 

Pennsylvania.. 

Kansas , 

Connecticut . . 



Missouri 



"West "Virginia . 

Nevada 

N'wHampshire 

Maryland 

Alabama 

Arkansas 

South Carolina. 

Florida 

Nebraska 



Superintendent . „ 

Secretary 

Superintendent 

Commissioner 

Agent, 1843-1845. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Secretary of Board, 1856-1874. 

Superintendent 

Territorial Superintendent, 1841 
1843 ; Secretary of Board, 1848- 
1864. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Commissioner 

Superintendent, 1837-1840 ; Sec- 
retary of State, ex officio, 
1840-1853. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent, 1813-1821 ; Sec- 
retary of State, ex officio, 
1821-1854. 

Superintendent 

Secretary of Board, 1846-1852. 

Superintendent , 

Superintendent ' 

Superintendent 

Secretary of Commonwealth, 
ex officio, 1835-1857. 

Superintendent 

Secretary 

Secretary of Commissioners, 
1839-1842 ; School Fund Com- 
missioner, exofficio,1845-lM9; 
Principal of State Normal 
School, ex officio, 1849-1865. 

Superintendent 

State officers, ex officio, 1835- 
1839 ; Secretary of State, ex 
officio, 1841-1851 ; Superintend- 
ent. 1853-1861 ; Secretary of 
State, ex officio, 1861-1865. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Commissioner, 1846-1850 ; Sec- 
retary of County Commission- 
ers, ex officio, 1850-1867. 

Principal State Normal School, 
ex officio. 

Superintendent, 1864-1868. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent, 1854-1867 ; State 

Comptroller, ex oJ^cio,1867-1868. 

Superintendent 

State Auditor, ex officio, 1836- 
1861. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 



Election or 
appointment. 



By people 

By State Board 

By people. 

By State Board 

By State Board 
By Legislature 

By people 

By people 

By people 

By people 

By people 



By Legislature 



By Governor. 



By people 

By Governor. 
By Governor. 



By people. 
By Board. 



By people. 



By people 

By people 

By Governor. 



By people. 
By people . 



yrs. 



4 yrs. 

1 yr. 

3 yrs. 

2 yrs. 

2 yrs. 



2 yrs. 
4 yrs. 

2 yrs. 

3 yrs. 



3 yrs. 



3 yrs. 

4 yrs. 
2 yrs. 
4 yrs. 



2 yrs. 



4 yrs. 



4 yrs. 
4 yrs. 

2 yrs. 



By people . 
By people. 
By people. 



2 yrs. 
4 yrs. 



2 yrs. 
4 yrs. 

3 yrs. 



1837 
1837 
1845 

1845 
1845 

1846 



1849 
1851 



1853 



1854 



1854 

1854 
1856 
1857 



1861 



1865 



1865 
1866 

1867 



1868 
1868 



1868 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION. 



13 



Virginia 

North Carolina 

Mississippi 

Georgia 

Louisiana 

Oregon 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Delaware 

Colorado 



North Dakota 
South Dakota. 



Montana 



Washington 



Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Superintendent, 1852-1865. 

Superintendent 

Commissioner 

Superintendent 

Secretary of State, ex officio, 

1833-1846 ; Superintendent, 

1847-1869. 

Superintendent 

Governor, ex officio, 1859 -1872. 

Superintendent 

State Treasurer, ex officio ,1869- 

1872. 

Secretary 

Superintendent, 1870-1875. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Territorial Secretary, ex officio, 

to 1870 ; Territorial Superin- 
tendent, 1870-1876. 

Superintendent 

Superintendent 

Territorial Superintendent, 1869- 

1889, for both States as one 

Territory. 

Superintendent 

Territorial Superintendent, 1872- 

1889. 

Superintendent 

Territorial Superintendent, 1872- 



Election or 
appointment. 



By Legislature 
By people 

By people 

By Governor . 
By people 

By people 

By Governor.. 

By Board — . 

By Governor. . 
By people 

By people 

By people 

By people 

By people 



Ori- 
gin. 



4yrs. ! 1870 

3yrs. 1870 

4yrs. '1870 

4yrs. H870 

4yrs. 1870 



4yrs. 
2yrs. 

4yrs. 

1 yr. 

2yrs. 



2yrs. 
2yrs. 



2yrs. 
2yrs. 



1873 

1873 

1875 

1875 
1876 



1889 



Each of the Territories, except New Mexico and Alaska, 
has a Territorial Superintendent of Schools. 

The evolution of the present system of supervision of 
schools has left town supervision of less relative impor- 
tance, while it has increased the amount and improved the 
character of county supervision. State supervision has 
become universal, and, except in Maryland and Texas, it 
holds an independent place in the State government. In 
Texas it may become such by the will of the State Board 
of Education. 

The popular character of State supervision is shown in 
the fact that in twenty-seven States the office is an elective 
office ; in five States it is within the province of the 
Board of Education to appoint ; in six States the Gov- 



14 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

ernor appoints ; in three States the Legislature elects ; and 
in the remaining State the President of the State Normal 
School acts ex officio. 

Popular election also prevails in twenty of the thirty 
States having a system of county supervision. 

County superintendents are appointed in Florida by 
the Governor ; in Alabama, by the State Superintendent ; 
in New Jersey, by the freeholders; in Arkansas and 
Georgia, by the County Board of Examiners ; in Indiana, 
by town trustees ; in Maryland, Tennessee, and Texas, by 
courts or judges ; in Pennsylvania, by school directors. 

Of the twelve States having no county superintendent 
in name, Arkansas has a County Board of Examiners ; 
Louisiana has a " Parish Board " ; New York a " District 
Commissioner," the district embracing part of a county 
or an entire county in some instances ; Ohio has a " Board 
of Examiners " ; Vermont has a " Board of Examiners." 

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, and 
Ehode Island, are without county supervision in any form. 
Mississippi and Nevada have it in name only. An im- 
portant step has been taken in a few States, in requiring 
certain literary and moral qualifications on the part of 
candidates for office to be passed upon by competent au- 
thority. 

Popular election has in some instances brought county 
supervision into disfavor, as by political manoeuvring un- 
worthy men or incompetent men have been chosen to the 
position. There has been, however, a gradual improve- 
ment, popular election proving a good educative agency, 
to which failures have given a stimulus. Women have 
proved excellent county superintendents in some States. 

State supervision has done more for the elevation of 
the county superintendency than any other agency. 

The wider and more generally intelligent constituency 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SUPERVISION. 15 

of a State has secured worthy representation of the educa- 
tional interests in the State superintendence 

Examination of teachers has assumed an important 
phase in the work of supervision. Twenty-one States * 
have State Boards for the examination of teachers. Five 
others f authorize the State Superintendent to issue cer- 
tificates upon examination. All States having county su- 
pervision authorize the issue of certificates, limited as to 
time. In some cases the examination of candidates is in 
the hands of the county superintendent alone — in others 
he must call to his aid assistance of teachers holding the 
highest grade of certificate within the county. Some 
State Boards also call to their aid teachers holding State 
certificates or life diplomas. The tendency is toward bet- 
ter qualifications of teachers, through a more thorough 
examination of a professional character. 

Normal schools, and colleges introducing into their 
curricula a course in " pedagogics," are in many cases 
favored with the acceptance of their diplomas as a suffi- 
cient warrant for the issue of certificates without exami- 
nation. This provision has done much to induce better 
preparation on the part of teachers. 

Another element in the evolution of an efficient super- 
vision is found in the influence of specialization of labor 
in all industrial enterprises and in other departments of 
professional work. Men in control of educational affairs 
have been exceedingly conservative. They have followed 
rather than led public opinion. Efficient State supervision 
has done much to create leaders. State Superintendents 

* California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, 
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, 
North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, West 
Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington. 

f Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and New York. 



IQ SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

have done much toward organizing educational forces in 
" State Associations." County and town associations have 
followed. Associations of State Superintendents have 
within the past twenty-five years awakened a general in- 
terest in the cause of popular education, which needs only 
national recognition in the form of a " Department of 
Education" to secure the highest degree of efficiency. 
National recognition does not imply national control, hut 
the unifying of systems and of the standards set in public 
education. 



CHAPTER III. 

CHARACTER OF SCHOOL SUPERVISION". 

The preceding chapter has presented school supervis- 
ion in three distinct forms — Incidental, Partial, and Pro- 
fessional. 

1. Incidental Supervision. — Where boards of edu- 
cation, or school committees, or school trustees assume 
the work of supervision, it becomes to them a matter in- 
cident to their principal duties. The same is true of all 
State or county officers who by reason of their office are 
charged with the oversight of school funds, school man- 
agement, or even of school instruction. An ex officio duty 
bears very lightly upon the thought of such officers. Su- 
pervision is extremely incidental. In a majority of cases 
it is purely accidental if any good results. Such officers 
are generally selected from the busy men of a State or 
municipality. Their province is legislative or judicial 
rather than executive. 

They are concerned with the machinery, and pay little 



CHARACTER OF SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 17 

heed to the qualifications of those who manage the ma- 
chines. They determine salaries, but know very little 
about the worth of the service which the salaries secure. 
They listen to complaints and decide upon questions sub- 
mitted to them. If the study of matters adjudicated gives 
them any insight into the fitness of one of the parties 
against whom complaint is most generally lodged — the 
teacher — the decision may prove extremely unjust, since 
the facts upon which judgment is rendered may be excep- 
tional. Of the general character of the teacher, or of the 
peculiar circumstances of the case in question, they can 
have little knowledge. Except in very rare instances 
members of the board know nothing of the every-day work 
of the schools under their charge. An occasional visit 
upon parade days gives but slight indication of the value 
of service rendered. Some good results from incidental 
supervision are possible rather than probable. A step in 
the right direction is taken when some school is assigned 
to an individual committeeman, or when the secretary of 
the board is made superintendent of schools by virtue of 
his office. He gives his time to school supervision when 
not otherwise employed. His supervision is partial. 

2. Partial Supervision". — A more common form of 
partial supervision is found as the gradation of schools 
progresses, in requiring of the principal some oversight in 
the work of his assistants. To this end he is allowed a 
little respite from teaching, if he can find the opportu- 
nity. As an executive officer he is clothed with authority 
for a small portion of his time, and for the remainder he 
is but an ordinary teacher of like position and responsi- 
bility with each of his assistants. He is selected rather 
on account of his ability in the class-room. His teaching 
is within a narrow range of studies. His preparation for 
that work is more intensive than extensive, and by so 
3 



18 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

much unfits him for the work of general supervision. 
The only hope of favorable results rests upon the selection 
of a principal who has come up through the various 
grades of school-work and whose experience fits him to 
supervise all grades of work. Progress in gradation, and 
the increasing tendency toward specialized labor, stand in 
the way of such a selection. A faint hope arises that the 
principal will make a study of the general work, and be- 
come theoretically if not practically fitted for oversight. 
The hope must be faint indeed unless his special work be 
neglected. Such neglect would soon cost him his place 
as teacher. No faithful teacher will find time for proper 
study of the entire range of school-work if the demands 
of his special work be fully met. So long as supervision 
is mainly incidental, it can be of little value. It is better 
than that which is purely incidental, and improves as less 
is required of the teacher and more of the superintendent 
in this dual relation. When the teaching becomes inci- 
dental, supervision is improved. Gradually in schools * of 
sufficient size the principal or master is released from 
teaching and becomes to his school a superintendent, de- 
voting his entire time to the supervision of the work of 
his teachers ; to the admission and assignment of pupils ; 
to the general discipline of all pupils ; to investigation of 
complaints against teachers by parents ; to the oiliug of 
bearings that friction may be reduced to its minimum ; to 
the oversight of the sanitary conditions of his building as 
a whole or of separate rooms in the same ; to the thorough 
comprehension of the parts of a school system with special 

* The word " school," throughout this work is to be understood 
to mean the entire collection of teachers and pupils representing such 
grades in a school system as are within the walls of a single building 
or of several buildings upon the same lot, with one responsible head 
called " Principal " or " Master." 



CHARACTER OF SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 19 

reference to their adaptation to the environment of his 
school ; in short, to all the details of management and in- 
struction, whereby the strictest economy and the highest 
degree of efficiency may be secured. Such a principal or 
master is virtually a superintendent under certain limita- 
tions essential to the unity of the schools of a munici- 
pality. With him partial supervision passes into " profes- 
sional supervision." 

3. Professional Supervision". — This is possible 
only in States, counties, and the more populous munici- 
palities, since it implies the devotion of one's entire time 
to the work. It implies also special fitness in the super- 
intendent, to be obtained only by the closest study and 
persistent devotion. 

This subject of professional supervision is worthy a 
more exhaustive treatment than the limits of a single 
book will allow. One or two general statements, appli- 
cable alike to all kinds of professional supervision, may 
be made before considering the natural divisions of the 
subject. One very important feature in the office of the 
superintendent is that of gathering up excellent methods 
as he observes them, and of transferring them to soil in 
which they are quite sure to grow. He must know the 
seed and the soil. Here, one seed may be dropped to the 
germination of which the soil is specially adapted ; there, 
another. By a slower process the soil may be changed, 
new methods of cultivation, more thorough working of 
the soil, new processes of fertilization are to be studied 
and applied, by one whose professional attainments insure 
success. 



20 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

CHAPTER IV. 

STATE SUPERVISION. 

In" the State, the more general interests of education, 
of school funds, of school laws, of school statistics, are con- 
sidered. 

The work of the State Superintendent, or Commis- 
sioner, or Secretary of the Board of Education (or by what- 
ever other name he may be called), is largely advisory. He 
must be prepared to advise legislators and school officers 
of inferior grade as to best methods of administration. 
His knowledge of these methods is to be obtained from 
the comparative study of the school systems of other 
States and of other countries. The best for his own State 
is that which is most readily adaptable to the peculiar 
conditions obtaining in his own State. In no case can 
he transfer bodily what has proved eminently successful 
in another State, unless similar conditions prevail. Even 
then his personal fitness to administer the system trans- 
ferred is an important factor. By frequent personal in- 
terviews with men interested in school management and 
school instruction he can best acquaint himself with con- 
ditions. 

During sessions of the Legislature his place is in his 
office, where, by counsel, he can promote favorable legisla- 
tion, and, by watchfulness, he can prevent the passage of 
acts born of personal caprice, and generally harmful even 
if locally advantageous. Through State associations of 
teachers and county organizations he can make his influ- 
ence felt upon the public. The greatest bar to successful 
State supervision in the United States is found in the 
political character of the office, where the superintendent 
or commissioner is elected by the people. It involves 



STATE SUPERVISION. 21 

party nomination and party support. Availability as a 
candidate is considered as more important than ability as 
an officer. The nomination is generally the last upon the 
list, and will quite naturally go to appease some disap- 
pointed locality, or to heal some wound inflicted in previ- 
ous nominations. The office is made the foot-ball between 
contending factions, and is at last permitted to go over 
the goal where the larger debts have accumulated. This 
view may, after all, be too highly colored to suit the act- 
ual condition of things where popular election prevails. 
The sober common sense of the people of all parties does 
appear to soften the tint. Well-fitted men are generally 
nominated ; but availability has still much to do with the 
nomination. The success of the officer during his first 
term may secure his renomination, but it is often because 
such an act is supposed to " strengthen the ticket "—at 
all events, the term is limited. In a few years, after a 
faithful officer who has acquired a knowledge of his duties, 
and who is thereby better fitted to continue them, finds it 
necessary to yield to popular clamor for a change, a new 
man steps in to experiment after a new plan. Permanence 
in good plans is sacrificed ; but the plan of the new offi- 
cer may be an improvement upon that of his predecessor. 
This is the bright side of the election system. The dark 
side may be relieved, too, by considering that a change 
for the worse makes the responsibility for that change 
press home upon those who have wrought it, and the evil 
will correct itself. Popular election certainly educates 
the people up to a better understanding of what the of- 
fice is ; and if the officer has the good sense to divest him- 
self of partisanship in the administration of the office, 
good service will result. The officer who feels himself 
called upon to account to the people and not to the 
party for the trust reposed in him will do better work 



22 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

under popular election than under appointment, either 
mediate, as in the case of a secretary of a board of educa- 
tion, or immediate, when appointed by the Governor or 
Legislature of the State. Men fitted for the great work 
will do equally well under either system — election or ap- 
pointment. The length of time their service is to con- 
tinue will have little to do with the character of the work 
attempted. A limited term will stand in the way of suc- 
cess when work attempted requires long time for its devel- 
opment. The officer has it in his power to remove all 
suspicion of partisanship. It is certain that the superin- 
tendent of public instruction acts unwisely when he en- 
ters upon a political canvass for partisan ends. He should 
never appear " upon the stump." As a citizen, it is his 
duty to express his preference by his ballot, but there his 
privilege ends. 

This by no means forbids his active efforts for the edu- 
cational and moral elevation of the community in which 
he resides ; nor does it prevent his participation in dis- 
cussion of all topics upon which the intelligent and vir- 
tuous elements in a community are agreed without refer- 
ence to party affiliations. Indifference upon such topics 
would mark him as unfit for the office he seeks. He 
should be known by his acts and his words as a man of 
probity of character, of sincere convictions upon great 
moral questions which concern the welfare of the State. 
To the people whose interests he serves he must be known 
as an exemplar in " whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever 
things are of good report." If the fountain be corrupt, 
what assurance can there be that the stream will escape 
pollution ? 

The chief danger in our State superintendency of 



STATE SUPERVISION. 23 

schools lies in a lack of competent counsel from above 
itself. The " Bureau of Education " for the United States 
presents in embryo an opportunity of grand possibilities. 
It may become a power for unifying and inspiring State 
systems, as the State system, when properly administered, 
finds its best work done through the county or city or 
town officers, whereby it reaches the people and the teach- 
ers. The Bureau of Education for the United States has 
not had such full recognition of its possibilities as it de- 
serves. It has collected many valuable statistics ; but it 
has confined its commissioner to clerical work instead of 
placing him in the field where, by personal conference 
with State officers, by public addresses at State associa- 
tions, the life-blood which digested statistics furnish shall 
be set to flowing through all parts of our national body. 
By reason of financial disabilities our educational food, 
both of foreign and of home production, has been sup- 
plied in crude form — not fresh from the fields — and too 
often cast aside as unpalatable. A people professedly re- 
lying upon popular education for its perpetuity should not 
longer be without a fountain from which wisdom may be 
drawn for the guidance of State officers. It is not too 
much to expect a liberal recognition of an office which 
may be made of such great value to the States. 

The control of educational affairs has been very wisely 
left to the States ; but national life has been endangered 
through lack of unity in the acceptance of the trust. 
There is needed a moral influence which shall bring to 
the execution of the trust the best thought and the purest 
devotion of the several States. Such a moral influence 
lies within the Bureau of Education, and, if its channels 
be opened, it will be felt. 

What are the elements prominent in a successful State 
Superintendent? 



24 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

1. A thorough comprehension of what is embraced in 
the term " popular education." This can be obtained only 
from the study of popular movements in the direction of 
public education, and of their practical results in the 
quickening of intellectual life, in the development of in- 
dustries, in the improvement of social manners, and in 
the elevation of the moral tone of the community. 

2. The ability to convert his knowledge into force. 
What he has learned by study he must be able to sift — 
casting aside all that is not available under the conditions 
surrounding his work. He must know his environment 
and what it will bear. He must comprehend clearly the 
fact that even the best for his State may not be imme- 
diately applicable, and can only be secured through a slow 
process of change in public sentiment. Seeing the end 
from the beginning, he will make no false step, nor any 
step which is not toward the end sought. If he can not 
go as far as he would in a day, he will go toward the end 
of his journey. Hence — 

3. He must possess tact in the control of men, through 
whom he can secure the passage of desired measures. To 
this end he should be a natural leader whose ability to 
lead shall be recognized, while his method of leadership is 
concealed, and he seems to be doing the will of others, 
though that will is in fact the reflex of his own will fash- 
ioned after frequent conferences. He will give advice in 
no dogmatic style, but in such simplicity as to carry con- 
viction. No legislator likes to be directed as to his course, 
but there are few whom the superintendent may not 
win by a straightforward presentation of his views, sus- 
tained by arguments which he leaves the legislator time 
to consider, without apparent anxiety as to the time he 
may take for such consideration. 

This exercise of tact in no wise conflicts with organ- 



STATE SUPERVISION. 25 

izing victory through those who are already in accord with 
the superintendent's views. With a well-organized force 
in hand he displays tact in winning recruits. The super- 
intendent should not appear too prominent in legislative 
halls, but may be constant in his attendance upon com- 
mittee meetings, when he will further his purposes by let- 
ting alone small matters which can have no effect upon 
the general cause. Too much intermeddling in indifferent 
matters will weaken his influence upon essentials. 

With a clear view of what he wishes to accomplish, he 
will support all measures bearing favorably upon it, and 
he will oppose all measures directly antagonistic to it. 
Such measures he may be sure will be presented for legis- 
lative action, for upon no other subject does the average 
legislator feel so competent to act as upon his local school 
interests. It must be admitted that in such matters his 
opinions are entitled to weight, but local interests are 
often prejudicial to general interests, and the wise super- 
intendent will know what to oppose as well as what to 
favor. His knowledge and his tact will be needed in full- 
est exercise during the sessions of the Legislature, and at 
other times in so informing the people through public ad- 
dresses or through the mouths of county or town school 
officers as to prevent the presentation of improper bills 
for legislative action. Through the press, also, he should 
often be heard upon the proper administration of the law 
as it exists, as well as upon needed modifications. To this 
end — 

4. He should be a man capable of presenting clearly 
and convincingly his views both by voice and by pen. 
Learned addresses are not needed so much as plain talks 
face to face with the people. Such opportunities are 
given in most States through county or district conven- 
tions. 



26 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

5. He should possess a judicial mind. Much of his 
work is judicial in character. He comes in contact with 
the litigious elements of the population, which find free 
field for their exercise in the school district. Questions 
of taxation — of school-house location — arouse strong con- 
troversy. Division of districts or union of districts is 
not always settled without bitter contests. In many States 
causes are tried before county superintendents, and in all 
these States appeal may be taken to the State Superin- 
tendent. Much of his time is taken up in hearing and 
weighing evidence. In matters affecting the rights of 
teachers, who have been denied certificates of qualifica- 
tion, or whose certificates, once given, have been canceled, 
the State Superintendent becomes the court of last resort. 

All other conditions being favorable, one who has sat 
upon the bench will make a good State officer. The 
chances are that, in preparation for the legal profession, 
he has had experience as a teacher, so that he is suffi- 
ciently familiar with the practical operations of the school 
law ; and his knowledge of law in general, and of methods 
of interpretation, as well as his familiarity with decisions 
upon matters presented to him for adjudication, will make 
him a ready and a safe judge in school contests. Such an 
officer comprehends readily the status of the school law, 
which is often amended, and with its contradictory pro- 
visions puzzles the best of school officers. Such an officer 
is the best adviser to the legislative authority. 

6. He should be a thorough student of all social prob- 
lems, especially those that pertain to the industrial life 
which embraces the great majority of those for whose 
benefit schools are organized. 

Sitting at the fountain, he is expected to direct the 
channels to " the greatest good of the greatest number." 
He has a clearer insight into general needs, can detect 



STATE SUPERVISION. 27 

shams, provide against excess of conservatism, and check 
excessive radicalism. 

7. He must be patriotic but not partisan. Schools exist 
because the country demands intelligent and virtuous citi- 
zens. The development of such citizens begins with the 
child. The child looks to the teacher ; the teacher to the 
superintendent, by favor of whose judgment he holds a 
teacher's place ; the superintendent to his superior officer. 
Place-seeking may prevail through the chain of influences 
until the child seeks favor rather than reward of merit. A 
partisan State officer may disgust his subordinates, but he 
is more likely to lead them into crooked ways and obtain 
their too zealous support of his measures, or, on the other 
hand, their firm opposition upon mere partisan grounds. 
Teachers adopt the methods of their superiors in place- 
hunting. The subtle virus finds a lodgment, and the 
whole school system is corrupt to the core. These last 
conditions may obtain in cities and counties, even where 
the State officer is as pure and patriotic and as non-par- 
tisan as it is possible for him to be. But if the head be 
right, well-balanced, and strong, the members are less 
liable to go astray. 

8. He must be a man of high moral worth, of incor- 
ruptible integrity. The Christian Church has much to do 
with shaping the school policy of this country. It has 
ever been its fast friend, even after losing control. The 
clergy have had many representatives in school superin- 
tendencies. They have maintained the necessity of moral 
and religious instruction in schools, but sectarianism has 
no more place than partisanship in their administration. 
Any State Superintendent is recreant to his trust who 
does not encourage the inculcation of religious precepts, 
such as reverence for God, filial piety, respect for law and 
for the rights of others, personal chastity in word and act, 



28 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

justice, temperance, and all kindred virtues. Personal 

example wanting will make him worse than recreant to 

trust — a positive evil force which can not be too deeply 

deprecated nor too speedily removed. 

/— Danger of too great church influence in school matters 

/ is not so much to be feared as too little positive religious 

L influence. 

In closing this chapter, no fitter words can be uttered 
than the following : 

" For the wisdom and strength which shall combine 
permanence with progress, guard our school organizations 
from crude conceits, infuse heart and vitality into me- 
chanical methods of teaching, and secure a steady unfold- 
ing of well-matured plans, we must look principally to 
the superintendent. If he is himself weak in character 
and variable in judgment, no constituted power or author- 
ity can protect the schools from the inundation of shams 
which threaten them."* 



CHAPTER V. 

COUNTY SUPEKINTENDENCY. 

County superintendents are quite generally elected 
by the people. They are more susceptible to the bad effect 
of political management than are State officers. The qual- 
ity of those selected to fill the office of county superin- 
tendent is often inferior to that of those selected for State 
office. Two prominent causes for a less careful selection 

* City Superintendent John E. Bradley, Minneapolis. 



COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCE 29 

may be cited : 1. In many counties the duties of the office 
employ only part of the time of the officer. 2. The con- 
trol of the salary is in the hands of county boards anxious 
to make a good financial record for themselves, and who 
have less knowledge of what is essential to good schools 
than to good roads and bridges. Partisan methods of 
selection are more likely to prevail, because of the low esti- 
mate put upon the office. Through political intrigue un- 
worthy men are sometimes foisted into the office. For 
many years after the introduction of the system, it was on 
trial, often by men who had known only the town system 
of the older States, and many of whom looked with dis- 
favor upon the innovation. But in the newer States the 
county assumed more of political importance, became the 
unit of legislative, judicial, and congressional districts. 
Eoads and bridges came under county supervision. Taxes 
were levied and collected by county officers. Towns be- 
came but subdivisions of counties. Though at first the 
control and supervision of schools was retained by the 
towns or districts after the older pattern, the tendency 
toward county management of other affairs had its in- 
fluence upon school matters as well. A large and intelli- 
gent minority were quite unwilling to surrender their cher- 
ished methods of school control. County supervision had 
therefore to win its way into favor against strong opposi- 
tion. It has been attacked in many States, but successfully 
only in three States. Michigan tried the system for eight 
years and then changed its policy, but has virtually re- 
turned to it in the establishment of a County Board of 
Examiners, made up from township boards. Mississippi 
has permitted the county superintendency to become a 
nullity. So also has Nevada. 

Of the twenty-four States formed from the public do- 
main, eighteen now maintain the county superintendency. 



30 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

Three, as above, have allowed it to pass into disuse. Of the 
three remaining States, Arkansas and Ohio have county- 
examiners and Louisiana a parish organization. It may, 
therefore, be said that the county system in the newer 
States is practically universal. Of the thirteen original 
States — Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, 
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia maintain a 
county system in some form; New York has a district 
system (each district embracing part of a county or an 
entire county). 

Of the five States admitted to the Union without a 
period of territorial tutelage, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ver- 
mont, and West Virginia have the county superintendency 
or its equivalent. 

Thus it appears that of the forty-two States, old and 
new, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, and 
Ehode Island rely upon the town system. Mississippi has 
neither county nor town organization, and Michigan a 
union of the two. 

The county superintendency of schools may, therefore, 
be considered as a settled feature in the policy of school 
management in the United States. Since the period of 
trial is passed, measures have been taken for its improve- 
ment. Popular approval has led to a wiser selection and 
to better support of those elected. In no department of 
school administration has there been a more marked ad- 
vance within the last twenty-five years. State Superin- 
tendents have found the county superintendency a most 
efficient channel in reaching the people of the States — es- 
pecially in reaching minor officers who are charged with 
the detailed management of school affairs. A State con- 
vention of county superintendents gives the State Superin- 
tendent a fine opportunity for learning the needs of various 
parts of the State, and for timely counsel and personal aid 



COUNTY SLTERINTENDENCY. 31 

to those who struggle under embarrassment in their work* 
District conventions of the superintendents of several 
counties enable the State Superintendent to concentrate 
his thought and effort upon needs of a particular portion 
of the State affected by like conditions. To these district 
conventions school trustees and directors are welcomed. 
Following the larger plan, the county superintendent feel- 
ing the inspiration of State and district conventions, or- 
ganizes a county convention for conference with teachers 
and school officers, and then comes nearer to the public in 
conventions for subdivisions of his county, larger or smaller, 
as his time and the convenience of the people may dictate. 

Out of this feature of the work of the county superin- 
tendent has grown up in many States a system of " County 
Institutes" for teachers, developing into brief normal 
schools for instruction of teachers and for the dissemina- 
tion of the latest and best educational thought. Through 
these " Normal Institutes " the State Superintendent is 
able to reach a majority of the teachers of the State in the 
course of a year. 

The county superintendency is like the State superin- 
tendency in its advisory character. Much that has been 
said of the elements essential to a good State Superintend- 
ent is fully applicable to the county superintendent. 

But a new feature appears in the work of the county 
superintendent which gives to him a most vital connection 
with the schools of the State. He passes upon the quali- 
fications of teachers, and thus determines what influences 
shall prevail in the school-room. He has an indirect con- 
trol of the influences which are to shape the intellectual, 
moral, and physical lives of thousands of children. Not 
only does he guard the entrance to the school-room, but 
by constant supervision he is enabled to correct his earlier 
judgments if they need correction. 



32 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

It is very desirable, if not essential to his highest suc- 
cess, that the county superintendent shall have been a suc- 
cessful teacher. Some States require county superintend- 
ents to be possessors of high-grade teachers' certificates. 
Other States demand the organization of a County Board 
of Examiners, composed of one or more teachers of high 
grade who act with the superintendent. Some States 
authorize the State Superintendent to prepare questions to 
be submitted to candidates for examination. 

But by none of these devices is the need of practical 
acquaintance with the details of school- work on the part 
of the county superintendent one whit abated. 

Through close observation and careful study, one who 
has never been a teacher may become an excellent superin- 
tendent ; but how much greater would have been his effi- 
ciency if, from the beginning of his work, he had possessed 
the knowledge which he has acquired in the service ! A 
second term of service shows the benefit of practical knowl- 
edge. 

The county superintendent collects and transmits sta- 
tistics to the State officer. He also acts in a judicial ca- 
pacity when disputes arise within his jurisdiction as to 
organization of districts, to location of school-houses, to 
refusal of certificates to unqualified or unworthy candidates 
for the teacher's office, and to the annulment of certificates 
already granted. His decisions are subject to appeal to the 
State Superintendent. 

In some of the more populous counties the supervision 
of schools by the county superintendent is purely profes- 
sional, the entire time of the officer being required in the 
performance of his duties. In many counties it loses its 
professional character so far as the work of instruction is 
concerned, and becomes largely a clerical office, all that 
remains of a professional character. being the examination 



COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCE 33 

of teachers. In this duty, however, if well performed, the 
cause of popular education finds advancement. 

In some States, the work of examination of teachers, 
who are candidates for a higher grade of certificate than 
the ordinary county or town certificate, is committed to a 
State Board. of Examiners, of which board the State Su- 
perintendent of Public Instruction is, ex officio, a member. 
As this higher certificate is considered to be more nearly 
professional in its character and weight, it is inferred that 
the certificates granted by county officers are not evidence 
of professional standing of the teachers who hold them. 

While in populous counties there is sometimes more 
than one superintendent, the need of such a division will 
lessen as the office becomes of such importance as to em- 
ploy the entire time of the officer. 

At the same time it will appear to sparsely settled 
counties impossible to employ the full time of a superin- 
tendent. Such counties might be united, and thus secure 
better service ; or a thinly populated county may, for a 
time, be attached to a more populous neighbor. But 
either of these devices should be only temporary in char- 
acter, awaiting such a population as will be able to secure 
the service of a man competent to act in a professional 
capacity. 

As a county superintendent comes nearer to the peo- 
ple than the State Superintendent, so is he better able to 
consider the details of school management, and in con- 
ference with school officers to bring about such changes 
as will make schools more effective. 

In one direction there is a decidedly advanced move- 
ment. It is toward a change in the unit of school organi- 
zation in States where the district system obtains. This 
movement is most pronounced in States having the county 
superintendency. The best county superintendents rec- 



34: SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

ognize the need of some system of gradation of schools 
as essential to their economical administration. Under 
the district system this .gradation is difficult of attainment 
through lack of numbers. Under a township system the 
possibility of gradation is well-nigh universal. For the 
younger pupils more convenient and suitable buildings may 
be constructed, to a portion of which may be assigned the 
older pupils in numbers sufficient to form classes of re- 
spectable size. For " high school " purposes a building 
centrally located may contain additional rooms. Failing 
enough pupils to make a high-school department effective 
for a town, a " county high school " may be organized 
which shall serve also the additional purpose of normal 
instruction to those preparing for the work of teaching. 

In the county high school the county superintendent 
will find an excellent opportunity for giving instruction 
during part of his time. His knowledge of the needs of 
his county schools will render his instruction most effect- 
ive. A brief term, in which " didactics " shall occupy 
the chief place, will take the place of the county institute. 

Through examination of teachers the county superin- 
tendent will do his best work. " Graded certificates " are 
provided for by law. The desire for the lowest grade 
which will open the way to appointment will prevail in 
the minds of the majority of applicants. This desire 
should be curbed by affixing to the number of such certifi- 
cates a limit agreeing with the necessities of the schools. 
If there are teachers enough holding the highest grade of 
certificate to supply the schools of the county, wisdom would 
dictate either the withholding of lower-grade certificates 
or the raising of the standard of qualifications. No two 
counties are precisely alike in conditions. A high-grade 
certificate in one county may be equivalent to a low-grade 
certificate in another, under circumstances which time 



COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY. 35 

and careful supervision alone can change. There can be 
nothing like absolute uniformity throughout any State in 
grades of certificates ; but there may be a uniform pur- 
pose to raise the standard of qualifications in every county. 
Conferences of county superintendents may lead to agree- 
ment as to the minimum requirements, with a wide-open 
path for advance as circumstances warrant. The advance 
will depend very largely upon the tact and the spirit of 
the county superintendent. The question of indorsing 
each other's certificates in lieu of an examination must 
meet with a decided negative except in rare instances of 
exactly similar conditions, and in cases of perfect mutual 
understanding between officers. Even in these latter 
cases it is better for the candidate to present papers 
written for another county for the inspection of the super- 
intendent of the county, in which application for indorse- 
ment of certificate is made. 

As schools improve under efficient supervision, the 
majority of schools will be able to secure teachers holding 
" first-grade certificates." For character of examination 
in this class of applicants the suggestions made under 
the head of examination of teachers in the chapters upon 
city supervision are applicable. 

"There is, as has been suggested, a profession of 
teaching, but it contains very few members relatively to 
the great body of those who teach. What shall be the 
plan of examination by which these members receive 
their fiual papers admitting them to membership is of 
small consequence. They have earned their membership, 
and are probably recognized as members without regard 
to State examinations. But there is an immensely large 
class who are in different stages of preparation for the 
teaching profession. What can the superintendents and 
examiners do through their examinations to urge this 



36 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

class to a better preparation for their work? I think 
there is a slowly increasing recognition from year to year 
that something important can be done. The superin- 
tendent first employs the examination to elevate the 
scholarship of the teacher. A majority of those who 
begin to teach are disgracefully ignorant of the subjects 
in which they are employed to give instruction. And yet 
every community, within certain limits, must furnish its 
own teachers of its schools. No other arrangement would 
satisfy the people. After the teacher has reached a cer- 
tain grade of scholarship, then the superintendent can cease 
to urge this point," and can place a series of inducements 
before these teachers to make a more thorough study of 
professional subjects. The plan usually adopted is to ex- 
cuse the teacher from further scholastic tests, provided he 
passes satisfactory examinations in certain lines of pro- 
fessional reading. By some such mode as this the exami- 
nation may become the means of elevating the standard of 
acquirements of those teachers who stay in the work long 
enough to be influenced by it."* 

In visiting the schools of a county the superintendent 
should be guided more by the needs of the schools than 
by his own pleasure. To this end he will visit most fre- 
quently those schools whose teachers need the most advice, 
and, if time fails, neglect those which are most efficiently 
managed and taught. 

The inefficient school sometimes needs less supervision 
than do the officers of the district. Conference with 
officers, and securing the company of one or more as he 
visits the school, will open the way for improvement 
where the teacher is not so much at fault as the officers. 



* George P. Brown, National Council of Education, Proceedings, 
1889, p. 27. 



COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCE 37 

Frequent evening meetings, to which parents are inyited, 
will furnish an excellent channel through which the in- 
fluence of the superintendent may flow. 

The most efficient aid will be found in the weekly- 
press of the county. It reaches many homes and has a 
healthful influence. By a judicious use of the superin- 
tendent's column, officers may become acquainted with 
their duties and responsibilities under the school law; 
they may learn what is done elsewhere under conditions 
even less favorable than their own ; better school-houses 
will be planned, better seating furnished, better lighting, 
heating, and ventilation secured, and all without increased 
expense to the people ; the needed qualifications of teach- 
ers will be better understood ; their own excellences may 
properly be known to others, and a laudable ambition be 
stimulated; their own failings may be portrayed in the 
better state of things existing in some neighboring dis- 
trict, and their pride be touched without offense, as their 
own short-comings are not published abroad ; the merits 
of special illustrative apparatus or of text-books may be 
judiciously presented. This last item needs very wise 
handling, but the duty of purchase rests upon school 
officers, and should never be delegated to teachers. The 
duty presses with greater force when free text-books are 
furnished pupils at public cost. In all these channels the 
superintendent should be a wise pilot. Accepting his re- 
sponsibility, and using the press and public address and 
private conference, as the means of discharging his duty, 
he will find a rich reward in the progress of the schools 
supervised. 



38 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

CHAPTER VI. 

CITY SUPEKVISIOK. 

Ik a few States without county supervision methods of 
supervision are so closely allied to those of city supervision 
that no separate treatment is deemed necessary. 

This form of professional supervision is of a different 
character from that of either of the forms already consid- 
ered. Its field of operation is narrower. Its chief prov- 
ince lies in supervision of the work of instruction. The 
organization of school boards in cities makes it unneces- 
sary as well as undesirable that the city superintendent 
should have anything to do with matters pertaining to 
financial management. He considers the qualification of 
teachers, examines critically the work they perform ; at- 
tempts to secure the most efficient service; and leaves 
much of the machinery of school support, and school 
equipment with material appliances, to the Board of Edu- 
cation or school directors or trustees. Eor the instruction 
and discipline of pupils he assumes responsibility, since in 
an important sense teachers are his agents acting under 
his direction and constant supervision. Here is the vital 
organism. Einancial support, buildings, apparatus, and 
all material appliances are essential as air and light are to 
the body. " Courses of study " are the necessary food. 
Methods of instruction are the preparation of that food 
for proper digestion and assimilation. 

It is important that a city superintendent of schools 
be well versed in school appliances. As an adviser he can 
be greatly helpful. His familiarity with the most ap- 
proved plans in school-house architecture ; with the best 
style of school seats and desks; with the most effective 
methods of warming and ventilating school buildings; 



CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 39 

with the most suitable apparatus for illustration of sub- 
jects taught; with the best text- books for the schools he 
supervises, will make him the better officer, even though 
he be free from the necessity of attending to details of 
construction, of selection, and of purchase. All these 
items have a direct connection with his chief work, since 
teachers are more efficient under favorable external condi- 
tions, and pupils advance more rapidly when their comfort 
in the school-room is promotive of good health and of con- 
sequent vigorous mental activity. 

But more and more is he narrowed in his work to the 
department of school instruction. 

In pursuance of the main purpose of this work, the 
qualifications of a city superintendent ; the various rela- 
tions he sustains to pupils, teachers, parents, and the 
school board; his responsibilities in physical and moral 
training of pupils; his connection with the government 
and discipline of pupils, and his duty of securing the great- 
est efficiency and economy in processes of instruction 
through proper gradation and- promotion of pupils, will be 
treated in separate chapters. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS — HIS QUALIFICA- 
TIONS. 

City superintendency of schools may be considered as 
a prism with polygonal bases. One face is turned toward 
the material appliances used in school-work ; one toward 
school authorities ; another toward the people at large ; 



40 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

another toward the patrons of the schools ; still another 
toward the teachers ; the last and most important of all 
toward the pupils. 

Each superintendent will be known by the character 
of the polygonal base of the prism which he constructs. 
It may be extremely irregular, and the longer side the one 
of least vital importance. One superintendent may plume 
himself upon the architectural beauty of the school build- 
ings and upon the interior finish, the furniture, the light- 
ing, warming, and ventilation ; upon the apparatus-cases 
and library-shelves; upon well-graded and pleasantly 
shaded grounds. These are important, but it is possible 
to lengthen this side of the base to such a degree as to 
make the prism unsightly and unstable. 

Another may devote his time to securing the favor of 
the men to whom he owes his position. Much time is 
spent socially, under the pretense of consulting his superi- 
ors upon matters of minor importance. He becomes an 
echo of " leading members " of the board, looking more to 
their favor than to the interests of the schools. As an 
adviser to the board he but does his duty. As an execu- 
tive officer of the board it is right that he receive their 
directions and carry out faithfully their commands. If 
his advice is not followed, loyalty to the board demands 
acquiescence, as the responsibility is not his if plans mis- 
carry. But this acquiescence and obedience are very dif- 
ferent from a slavish submission to their opinions in the 
attempt to gain favor. 

Another enlarges the face turned toward the people, 
and parades the cheapness of his administration as a 
pleasant contemplation for tax-payers. It is much to be 
regretted that the popular pulse, which lies in the pocket, 
must be under the finger of the superintendent, especially 
where efficiency is measured by expense. Extravagance 



CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 41 

in expenditure must be avoided ; but the superintendent 
whose chief merit lies in bringing expenditure below that 
of other municipalities proclaims his failure to secure the 
best results from the means at his disposal, though his 
economy may be loudly praised by the people he has 
served. 

Another studies the whims of parents, listens to com- 
plaints against teachers, hears ex parte testimony, and too 
readily seeks to lengthen this line of his base. 

To the opposite extreme moves the man whose sym- 
pathies are in advance pledged to teachers ; who acts as 
if he considered schools established for the benefit of 
teachers. 

If the lengthening of any line of the base is admis- 
sible, it is that upon which pupils are arranged. The su- 
perintendent who manages his schools for the benefit of 
pupils can not go far astray. 

But material appliances — money, financial manage- 
ment, parental co-operation, the best course of study most 
faithfully pursued by well-qualified teachers — are all es- 
sential to the success of the schools as measured by the 
benefits which pupils receive. For none of these ele- 
ments is the superintendent solely responsible. For them 
all is he in a measure responsible. The measure of re- 
sponsibility culminates in the work of instruction and 
discipline, teachers and pupils being respectively the sub- 
jective and objective aids to his success. 

The superintendent, who has the right views of his 
duties as they are pressed upon him from all sides of his 
work, will obliterate lateral edges and make of his prism a 
cylinder. It is desirable that it be a hollow cylinder, into 
which his own life is poured all aglow as into a mold. All 
lines of separation in the parts of his work will disappear. 
The true superintendent will care less to be seen than to 



42 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

be felt. He will give the attention due to each of the re- 
lations he sustains — to the board, the people, the patrons, 
the teachers, the pupils — in self-forgetfulness. 

Filling his office, he will respond in his life to every 
part with absolute fidelity. He will display minute ac- 
quaintance with the best material appliances ; wisdom in 
guiding authorities by intelligent counsel and in following 
faithfully the results of their deliberations, even when not 
in exact accord with counsel given ; an intelligent regard 
for public opinion and for the public purse ; a thoughtful 
consideration for the wishes of patrons — not compliant 
always, but ever complaisant ; a just but kindly criticism 
of teachers, upon whose qualifications he has passed an 
impartial judgment, sympathetic and helpful; a love of 
child-life, a clear insight into child-nature, a memory of 
child-experience, a devotion to child-interest, and a deter- 
mination to make all work center in the good of the pupil. 

" A school superintendent by virtue of his position has 
the oversight and general management of several schools 
with the power of direction. He is an examiner ', that he 
may inquire into and determine all matters pertaining to 
qualifications of teachers and pupils. He is an inspector, 
to ascertain the quality of the teaching, the character of 
the management, to detect whatever may be wrong in 
matter or method, and to point out the means for correc- 
tion. He is a supervisor, that he may oversee carefully, 
advise wisely, and organize and direct intelligently. A 
real superintendent must be more than a teacher — more 
even than a merely skilled teacher." * 

The brief summary of a superintendent's duties, as 
given in this chapter, needs elaboration. 

* N". A. Calkins, New York, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 
Education, vol. ii, p. 500. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO PUPILS. 43 

In the evolution of the city superintendency of schools 
as population has increased, much, that in smaller cities 
and towns falls under the oversight and direction of the 
superintendent, is passed over to other officers. In the 
largest cities there are now superintendents of buildings 
and repairs; superintendents of engineers and janitors; 
architects and supply agents ; clerks and paymasters, who 
attend to the salaries of teachers ; and, where compulsory 
laws prevail, truant officers or school police. The super- 
intendent of schools is thus free to devote his time to 
matters of instruction. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO PUPILS. 

For the child the school exists. The need of the child 
enforces its right to exist. 

The little factors in this problem of education are too 
often eliminated by substitution, and the values of other 
factors are first determined. The conditions of the prob- 
lem ought to be stated so that a single unknown quantity 
will suffice for its solution. 

The quantities that are known, or that at least may be 
readily determined, such as buildings, furniture, and other 
material appliances ; books, systems, methods of instruc- 
tion, of administration, and other agencies ; intelligence, 
tact, character, and other spiritual forces of parents and 
teachers — all should be gathered into one member of the 
equation, that the value of the school to the child may be 
determined. 



44 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

Blind guessing at this value has been too much the 
practice in the past. Within a few years a very thorough 
study of child-life has . occupied the thought of some of 
the leading minds in the world of philosophy. Psychol- 
ogy is no longer limited to the phenomena of adult life. 
The child's mind is recognized as worthy of philosophic 
study. Into this realm, as yet but little explored, the 
superintendent of schools should be prepared to lead his 
teachers. The superintendent fails signally in his work 
unless his clear insight into the nature of the child is daily 
quickened by close observation; and still greater is his 
failure unless his observations properly digested are com- 
municated to those who come into more immediate rela- 
tion to the pupils. From his less intimate personal rela- 
tion to the child, the superintendent is presumed to have 
better opportunities for judging of means and of the 
method of their use. 

The value of the school to the child depends much 
upon the efficiency of outer forces in calling into exercise 
the inner forces of the child. One of these inner forces 
is commonly called curiosity. It is an instinctive desire 
to know. This is too often smothered or entirely crushed 
out, whereas it should be fostered and wisely curbed. To 
this end the course of study and the methods of instruc- 
tion should contribute. Through both these the super- 
intendent guards the interests of the pupil, in counseling 
the authorities who determine the former and in leading 
the teachers who pursue the latter. 

The end sought should be the nourishment and build- 
ing up of the inner life of the child. To this the outer 
life as apparent in bodily posture and movement will con- 
form, and in some degree will also render important serv- 
ice. But that supervision which looks more to outward 
form than to inward activity makes an end of that which 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO PUPILS. 45 

should be a means. Earnestness, the result of mental ac- 
tivity, may sometimes overleap all rules of propriety, and 
the child may forget for the time that he has a foot which 
should keep the line, or a hand that bears a certain proper 
relation to his book or to his side. The same neglect of 
proper position may be the result of mental sluggishness 
or of physical exuberance. The difference should be 
recognized instantly before the process of correction be- 
gins. The cause of restlessness or of unusual activity 
being known, the cure is more properly applied. No 
attempt at cure should be made until a thorough diagnosis 
has opened the way for an intelligent application of rem- 
edies. 

Eager to know, the child will at first naturally be qui- 
escent. His eagerness is in complete possession of his 
powers, and holds them in control as best adapted to the 
receptive stage. A good story-teller can illustrate the 
truth of this statement. 

Soon after another element in child-life, essential to 
his inner growth, asserts itself and breaks the spell of si- 
lence : it is the desire to tell what he knows. Under the 
sway of this force he is overpowered, his mind is all aglow, 
and the fire should not be quenched by the cold water 
from the well of Turveydrop. Little confidences misdi- 
rected, or unduly encouraged, grow into larger gossip. 
Properly directed they strengthen mental grasp. A good 
thought well and clearly expressed is fixed by expression. 
It is thus securely built into the mental structure. Fre- 
quent opportunity must be given the child to use his ma- 
terial as soon as he becomes possessed of it. His knowl- 
edge is fragmentary : expression helps to connect the 
parts. It is crude : expression gives it form. It is in its 
entirety of little value : expression retains the wheat and 
winnows out the chaff. Knowledge is in the beginning 



46 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

the result of sense-perception : expression develops internal 
perception — both are essential to mental growth. 

The child's desire to tell should have as frequent op- 
portunity for gratification as his desire to know. 

Closely allied to the child's desire to tell what he has 
learned is his desire to do what others have done. Imita- 
tion is a prominent faculty in the child. He " learns to 
do by doing," as in giving utterance to ideas he learns to 
think by thinking aloud. In the past there has been too 
much suppression of curiosity, of conversation, of activity. 
Direction rather than suppression is the rule of to-day. 
The injunction " Little children should be seen, not 
heard," has done much harm. Wise supervision will see 
that a time for hearing the child finds a place in the pro- 
gramme of school exercises. The child, too, may be seen 
at his work in proper time. Curiosity keeps sense-percep- 
tion awake. Opportunity for communicating the results 
of observation will quicken mental perception. Success in 
imitation encourages the child and strengthens his habit 
of observation. The senses are trained; the tongue is 
active, but under control ; the hand acquires deftness and 
skill. Kindergarten exercises are the incipient steps in 
right education, which converts seeing into knowing, 
makes telling a reflex influence upon thinking, and 
changes imitation by degrees into invention. 

The superintendent must acquaint himself with these 
incipient steps, and know clearly those that follow. When 
he enters a school-room of little children, he must observe 
what may be called the business attitude of teacher and 
pupils ; converse familiarly with the pupils, and thus learn 
their habits of expression ; inspect their work at their 
desks or upon the blackboard, correcting faults by passing 
them by, that he may have time to commend their good 
work ; call the attention of all to the special excellence of 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO PUPILS. 47 

the work of one, thus stimulating imitation. The most 
important work of the superintendent is done in the low- 
est grades of school-work, for there is given direction to 
the entire student-life. In these grades there must be the 
best teaching possible. In the interest of the little folks 
the superintendent will do his best work. His broadest 
culture, through which he may impress himself upon his 
teachers, must not suppress in him a sweet, child-like spirit 
when in the presence of children. Though a man, long 
since having put away childish things, he must still think 
as a child, speak as a child, seeing the little ones before 
him not " as in a glass, darkly, but face to face." 

The fact that he seldom comes into direct communi- 
cation with the same children gives to his visit a peculiar 
significance. It is remembered as an inspiration if he 
reaches their affections ; as an unmitigated wrong if he 
has awakened their fears ; as a simple waste of time if no 
impression is left. 

Little children are intensely partisan. They love 
warmly; they hate bitterly. Rarely are they indifferent 
to their teachers. Hearty approval of the teacher by the 
superintendent, where it can be given, will quicken the 
little ones' confidence and will make the teacher's influ- 
ence over them a molding power for good. On the other 
hand, he should not betray by look or word any dissatis- 
faction with the teacher in the presence of the children, 
lest through their keen eyes and acute hearing they come 
to distrust one whose life and work are so large factors in 
the building of their character. The formative period in 
the school-life of the embryo citizen is the important pe- 
riod. If time fails the superintendent to make a com- 
plete examination of all the work he is to supervise, he 
will consult best the interests of pupils in neglecting the 
higher grades. He can not afford to neglect the lowest. 



48 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

As lie finds need of and obtains assistance, his selection 
and assignment of such assistants should have chief refer- 
ence to the needs of the little ones. If personally compe- 
tent for the supervision of primary work, he should by all 
means retain that as his share. 

The special relation of the superintendent to the pupils 
of the lowest grades is that of intelligent sympathy, of 
providing skillful gardeners, who shall guard the tender 
shoots against the chill of neglect, the heat of forceful 
processes, the flood of theories, and the smothering of 
noxious weeds. He must be strong enough to resist the 
prevalent theory that an inexperienced teacher will find 
primary work the best field in which to gain experience ; 
and that one who knows comparatively little is best pre- 
pared to teach little children. Nurserymen are skilled 
horticulturists. When seeds have developed into plants 
of sufficient strength to bear transplanting, then less 
knowledge may suffice for the care of the shrubs or the 
trees. No nurseryman finds time for the plucking of 
fruit. As pupils advance in grade, if well rooted and 
pruned, they may be expected to bear fruit. By examina- 
tions, the fruit will appear. Upon the supervision of 
older pupils, reference must be made to chapters upon 
" Examination and Promotion " of pupils. 

This note is suggested in what has been said. That 
superintendent is best fitted for the oversight of other 
people's children who can make a home study of children ; 
next him, one who has been a teacher of children. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 49 

CHAPTER IX. 
superintendent's relation to teachers. 

1. Leadership. — That the superintendent may be an 
efficient leader, he must be conscious of ability to lead. 
His fitness to lead must be recognized. These two prin- 
ciples coexistent will insure a solid foundation for the 
first and a sound reason for the second. In conscious 
ability is strength. In recognized ability there is an op- 
portunity for the exercise of strength. Leadership im- 
plies better acquaintance with the work required of teach- 
ers than they themselves possess. This better acquaintance 
must be everywhere apparent ; it should be the outcome 
of experience. Hence it is better that the superintendent 
be chosen from the ranks of professional teachers. Theo- 
rizing the most attractive, the most plausible, even, will 
not satisfy the demand. Nor will practice in a narrow 
field prepare the superintendent for his wider duties. A 
wide and varied experience gives vigor to consciousness of 
power — a prime element in successful leadership. Expe- 
rience in all grades of school-work is desirable — most of 
all desirable in the instruction of young children. But 
past experience will avail little unless the results of more 
recent experience are fully understood — accepted, so far 
as they are improvements, and used as modifications of 
theories founded upon what has proved best in the past. 
His ability grows only as it roots itself anew in soil freshly 
prepared by the best thinkers of the present. Each year's 
service will show change in methods of work. Mental 
faculties are essentially the same, but environment changes. 
New avenues are opened for the mind to traverse. New 
methods of approach must be learned. New motives to 



50 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

activity take the place of the old, or are superinduced, 
and thus the old are more effective. A superintendent 
who would lead his teachers in a path the best known a 
generation ago will be a blind leader of the blind. A 
child's environment of to-day demands for him a greater 
variety of mental food. The style of cookery of the staple 
food is constantly changing. He who leads his teachers 
year after year over the well-worn paths without deviation 
proves his unfitness for leadership. Every progressive 
railway corporation changes its line or grade of track, im- 
proves its rolling-stock, to meet the demands of greater 
traffic and increased travel. Its chief engineer constantly 
studies methods of improvement in road-bed ; its master- 
builder plans for better structures suited to changed con- 
ditions. Less wisdom should not characterize school man- 
agement. Caution may be needed lest change be made 
for no other reason than desire for change. Experiment- 
ing is proper if there is a reasonable prospect of a good 
result. A dreamer is not a safe leader. A wide-awake 
leader will be progressive. 

But a leader, though familiar with details, can not 
afford to be burdened with them. He must generalize — 
grasp principles which underlie the detailed work assigned 
to his teachers. It is his province to plan the campaign, 
to assign to each division of his forces its respective posi- 
tion and duty, indicating the results desired, and leaving 
the minutiae to the discretion and loyalty of his subor- 
dinates. 

2. Confidence. — Confidence is a plant of slow growth ; 
it springs from knowledge of character and ability in the 
person to whom confidence is extended. This knowledge 
is derived, first, from examination; second, from trial; 
third, from continued inspection of work done. 

{a.) Examination. — A keen-sighted superintendent 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 51 

will read much of character and of special fitness for the 
work of teaching in the personal presence and address of 
the candidate. Manners and dress, language and address, 
will not escape his attention, and will have their influence 
upon his final judgment. Letters of commendation will 
be accorded their due weight — greater or less, as the writ- 
ers are known and their relations to the candidate are 
understood. As a rale, such letters are of little value, 
except as letters of formal introduction. References are 
much to be preferred. 

Letters from superintendents should have professional 
weight. For this reason, superintendents should be ex- 
tremely careful, in giving such letters, to state frankly 
what they know from personal acquaintance of the quali- 
fications of those to whom such letters are given. Yield- 
ing to temptation to equivocate, or to leave the impression 
that something may be read between the lines, is unworthy 
the true superintendent. Fear of giving offense may 
make the temptation irresistible. It is better to deny the 
favor than to resort to duplicity. Circumstances of an 
unfavorable character may stand in the way of success in 
one place, and may be avoided in another. The statement 
of facts, with modifying circumstances also fairly stated, 
can do no harm either to the person carrying or to the 
person receiving such a letter. ~No recommendation will 
take the place of a personal examination. 

Examinations, however, convey to most minds the idea 
of a test of intellectual acquirements by a process of ques- 
tion and answer. There are two forms of such examina- 
tions — the oral and the written. The oral may be used in 
single instances; but, as applicants are quite generally 
numerous, economy of time favors the written form. An- 
other reason for written examinations lies in the fact that 
the candidate leaves a permanent record, to which appeal 



52 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

may be made in case of dispute as to the fairness of judg- 
ment rendered by the superintendent. Still another rea- 
son appears in the fact that more time is given to the 
preparation of questions, and a better opportunity is fur- 
nished for the revision of answers. The stronger reason 
for adopting the written form is in the interest of the can- 
didate. More time is allowed for the study of a question 
and for deliberating upon the proper answer. 

A self-possessed candidate of natural quickness of 
thought may show to better advantage under an oral ex- 
amination. But candidates are generally strangers to 
each other and to the examiner; their position causes 
some embarrassment, and a written examination is more 
favorable under such conditions. 

A combination of the two forms is better than the 
pursuit of either alone. They supplement each other. 
One who knows and can not tell, may write; one who 
finds the pen a bar to thought, may find relief in speech. 
Both classes have the favorable opportunity. The trying 
conditions under which candidates are placed in times 
of examination will suggest to the superintendent such 
helps as the following : A familiar conversation, at first, 
upon school management ; upon different methods of in- 
struction in some one subject ; approval of methods sug- 
gested, so far as they merit approval, with silence upon 
crude suggestions, will put candidates at their ease in a 
measure. The papers placed before them first will be 
blanks for registration. They should be as simple as 
possible, requiring only a brief record, personal and pro- 
fessional. Care should then be taken to place before 
candidates the list of questions most easily answered. It 
gives courage at the outset of a contest to provide for a 
victory. Other papers may then be presented with refer- 
ence to the time allotted. There may be throughout an 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 53 

understanding that the questions need not be considered 
seriatim if the answers be plainly marked to correspond 
with the numbering of the questions. Any list of ques- 
tions that can be proposed will be found to vary widely in 
difficulty. The variation will be by no means uniform 
when tested by an entire class of candidates. What may 
prove simple to one will be found difficult by another. If 
each question is made of equal importance to every other, 
as determined by the mark affixed to the answer, the right 
of selection of those most easily answered by the candi- 
date will prove helpful in the result. 

The better plan is to give different weight to the sev- 
eral questions answered, so that the result may rest less 
upon the number of questions answered, than upon the 
values of those attempted. If correct answer to one ques- 
tion be valued at five upon a scale of one hundred, an- 
other at ten or fifteen or twenty, and all be so arranged 
that the totals of values of all answers shall not exceed 
one hundred, the least important questions may be omit- 
ted, and time be gained thereby for the consideration of 
those to whose answers the greater values are attached. 
This assumes a time limit upon each set of questions. 

This limit should be generous even to a fault. Here 
the question arises, What shall be done with the rapid 
workers, who need not the full time allotted to the sub- 
ject ? If an assistant can be trusted with the oversight of 
the room, the superintendent may properly take such 
persons into another room for oral examination. When 
this plan is not feasible, a list of questions upon theory 
and practice may be handed to all candidates at the out- 
set of the examination. To these the quick workers may 
address themselves in the time remaining for allotted work. 
To some a few minutes only remain, but some important 
thought may arise upon inspection of the questions, even 



54 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

if nothing be written. No papers should be left in the 
hands of candidates during intermission except the one 
upon theory and practice. Conversation upon topics 
suggested therein can do no harm, and it may be very 
helpful to those who can write only upon the theory side. 

It is desirable that some blackboard work be required 
of all candidates. It will show clearly the habits of pres- 
entation, a most important matter. 

For those who have had experience in teaching, the 
teacher's methods of blackboard illustrations should be 
tested. This is an important feature in examination. An 
adequate test of facility in use of language, in capitaliza- 
tion, in punctuation, in orthography, may be applied in the 
assignment of some topic for impromptu discussion in a 
paper to which are allowed ten or fifteen minutes for writ- 
ing and five minutes for revision. 

Determination of final results will depend largely upon 
the style of questions proposed. They should be clearly 
stated, with no chance of misinterpretation. They should 
be distinct, each complete in itself. No question should 
be made to depend upon another for its conditions. If a 
question involves more than a single statement, it should 
be clearly divided, so that answers may not be involved. 
For convenience of examiners, the paper used should be 
uniform, with suitable margin indicated. All work should 
be in ink. 

The only just method of marking the papers submitted 
is to complete the review of the work of the entire class, 
question by question, examining all the answers submitted 
upon one question before proceeding to another. 

The habit of marking papers in arithmetic by answers 
alone is by no means just. Correct principles of solution 
should receive due credit, if in their application mistakes 
appear which lead to incorrect results. A slight error at 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 55 

tlie beginning of a solution will magnify itself as the work 
progresses, though every subsequent step be absolutely cor- 
rect. Correct answers may appear even when principles 
are violated. It is safe to assume that, in a large number 
of candidates, one may be found unable to resist the temp- 
tation to copy a neighbor's answers. Candidates should 
be so seated, when possible, as to reduce the power of temp- 
tation to its minimum. One other suggestion may not be 
amiss to the superintendent as he prepares his questions. 
Upon some subject the opinions of candidates should be 
called for rather than their recital of remembered facts. 
A mere memorizer seldom makes a successful teacher. 
History is as good a subject as any for such a test. The 
paper will be the most difficult of all to mark fairly, since 
the examiner's own opinions are so easily made the crite- 
rion. 

Candidates have more at stake in examinations than 
has the examiner, and they should be given the benefit of 
any doubt. For this reason, too, the examiner should re- 
vise his own work before making a final decision upon 
cases just upon the border-line of failure. 

The superintendent as examiner-in-chief will find the 
assistance of others valuable to him. This assistance is 
of greater value when rendered by professional teachers. 
The work of examinations is so entirely distinct from that 
of selection and appointment of teachers, with which the 
Board of Education is charged, that the wisdom of delegat- 
ing the examination of teachers to a committee of teachers 
with the superintendent will be apparent. 

This examination into literary qualifications is, after all, 
but preparing the way for a better and fuller knowledge 
of the candidate. The chief test of fitness is in the work 
done. Examinations but carry the forces across the moat. 
The walls are yet to be scaled. Happy those whose 



56 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

strength avails them at this point ! Unfortunate the city 
taken through bribery at the gates ! 

(b.) Trial. — This test is applied only in the school-room. 
It should be accepted by the candidate as part of an ex- 
amination. As it is the most important part, the superin- 
tendent will make it thorough and impartial. He will not 
allow his judgment to be warped by personal considera- 
tions. He will yield to solicitation neither from within 
nor without, but will insist upon a fair trial under the 
most favorable conditions to success. These conditions he 
will make his study, and withhold hasty judgment. A first 
trial may prove a disastrous failure through no fault of 
the candidate : it may appear to be a marked success, and 
still furnish no sure criterion to the ability of the candi- 
date; conditions may have been extremely favorable in 
the latter case and as unfavorable in the former. Subse- 
quent trial in either case may change results. As the ex- 
amination determines the possible candidates, so does the 
trial determine the possible appointees. Knowledge is not 
yet complete and confidence not yet firm. 

A list of candidates for appointment, frequently re- 
arranged as relative merit shall appear on trial, furnishes 
an excellent list from which recruits may be drawn to fill 
vacancies. 

(c.) Inspection of ivorlc done after appointment will 
settle the basis of confidence. Promises brought out of 
trial may fail of realization. Desire to secure a place may 
have led to spasmodic effort, soon relaxed when the desired 
end is attained. The teacher on trial is sure of greater 
support because of the peculiar position in which he is 
placed. Every unfavorable indication is overlooked and 
the best is made of all that appears. The teacher takes 
the benefit of every doubt. 

But after appointment the supports are taken away. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 57 

The teacher is thrown upon his own resources. He will 
sink if he can not swim. He is left to carve out his own 
future under conditions of the greatest possible freedom. 
If a superintendent feels it incumbent upon himself to 
mark out the steps for individual teachers, two things, 
equally disastrous, are consequent — the frittering away of 
his own time, and the purely mechanical work of each part 
of a vast machine. If he finds in his corps of teachers 
manifest lack of self-reliance or want of discretion, the 
best remedy lies not in himself doing the work through a 
faulty agent, but in changing the agent. If the superin- 
tendent finds he can not rely upon his teachers who have 
passed successfully the two previous forms of testing, he 
should be able to secure relief through the appointing 
power. 

At all events, he should so far presume upon the intel- 
ligence and ability of his teachers as to free them from 
the feeling that they are set to do another's work in a way 
marked out by another's will. There are matters of form, 
mechanical in their very nature, in attention to which 
teachers may safely follow explicit directions. But one 
way is the right way and no opportunity for choice can be 
given. These matters, however, are the least important of 
all. In the great work of the teacher — the building up of 
the character of the pupil and the fashioning of his style 
of thought — there is ample opportunity for the exercise of 
diverse gifts ; occasion for the use of individual power ; 
ample field for the cultivation of the freedom of the 
teacher. 

No superintendent can afford to sacrifice the freedom 
of the individual teacher. He may counsel but not abso- 
lutely direct : he must lead, as suggested at the beginning 
of this chapter, but not control, except in that indirect way 
which is the outgrowth of a marked and recognized supe- 



58 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

riority. He who has the broadest views of the work of 
supervision will most surely exercise trust in the discre- 
tion of his teachers. He recognizes the possibility of dif- 
ferent routes to the same end. He knows that variety in 
means best suits varying ability, and that freedom in the 
line of earnest service secures the best result. Hampering 
teachers with minute details as to the method of work, 
frets and hinders rather than helps them. Manifest sus- 
picion of indiscretion increases the possibility of its exist- 
ence. Trust encourages effort, and helps to establish proof 
of its worthy bestowal. 

It may prove a misplaced trust, but the remedy is 
simple. A teacher who fails in discretion, after full and 
fair opportunity for its free exercise, should not be left 
to trouble the superintendent, and to stand in the way of 
one capable of better service. 

" By confiding to some extent the selection of teachers 
to his (superintendent's) judgment, he is made to feel a 
personal interest in their success, as a failure would be a 
direct reflection on his sagacity and general ability. Be- 
sides, where teachers know that their positions depend in 
some measure on his estimate of their fitness, they will ap- 
ply themselves the more earnestly to the execution of his 
plans." * 

The relation of the superintendent to teachers will de- 
velop itself on three lines : 1. Administration of work. 
2. Discipline of pupils. 3. Advice. 

Dependence is mutual. Lack of confidence on either 
side is harmful. In administration of work the superin- 
tendent may look over the work, seeing only its external 
conditions, giving attention to the machinery, its condi- 
tion and smoothness of running, its need of repair. He 

* W. H. Pavne. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 59 

may also look through the work, liis attention fixed npon 
the product. A brief call will suffice for the first, a visit 
is needed for the second. It may be well occasionally to 
attempt but one part of the work at a time, but there is 
danger that the first will absorb too much time, and the 
machinery be considered more important than its product. 
Teachers will soon follow the path traversed by the super- 
intendent, and will keep the machine well cleaned and 
oiled at the expense of the product. 

Having applied the three tests — of examination, of 
trial, and of inspection of work — the superintendent's re- 
lation to teachers changes somewhat. He is not consid- 
ering possibilities nor probabilities, but is confronted with 
actualities. He is henceforth to deal with the corps of 
teachers upon whose fitness he has already passed judg- 
ment, and in whose work he is to find assurance that his 
judgment was correct. He now leaves them to the use of 
their own methods, holding them responsible for results 
only. They are practically free as to methods of work. 

He will find them often disappointing his expecta- 
tions. Some grow indifferent in the place secured. Some, 
unrestrained, run wildly after pet theories. Unwilling to 
become mechanical in their work, some will fain break the 
machine. Others left to themselves — a new experience — 
become burdened with a sense of their inability, and fail 
to put forth their best effort. 

Wise supervision, recognizing the importance of the 
freedom of the teacher, will not fail to correct license on 
the one hand, and absolute dependence upon another's will 
on the other hand. The large mass of the rank and file 
can be trusted as imbued with the true spirit of freedom ; 
but some will need restraint, others encouragement. To 
this end the superintendent will have frequent occasion to 
exercise the grace of patience. This will call him the 



60 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

more frequently to the rooms of those who try his pa- 
tience — partly for his own good, partly for their good. It 
is safe to neglect some teachers, for they have in them the 
grace of continuance in well-doing. When the superin- 
tendent finds his patience well-nigh exhausted, a call upon 
those who have organized victory will cheer him and lead 
him to persistence in the right course which he has 
marked out for himself with the few who, in spite of re- 
peated failures, may, after all, reward his patience. It is 
not always possible for the superintendent, however thor- 
ough his knowledge of teachers, to know at the same time 
and with equal thoroughness, the conditions in which the 
teacher is placed. Failure may result from a mistake 
which can not be corrected as easily in the place where 
made as in some other place, similar to the first, but to 
which knowledge of the teacher's indiscretion has not ex- 
tended, and in which the teacher's experience will prevent 
a repetition. There are those whose natural strength will 
carry them through all trials. Others need such assist- 
ance as favorable surroundings may furnish. Some have 
consciousness of power, and make it available under all cir- 
cumstances. Others possess the power but lack the con- 
sciousness; such come slowly to the knowledge of the 
power within them ; they need such assistance as favorable 
conditions will furnish ; they need the encouragement 
which victory over slight difficulties gives them. 

3. Patience. — It is unwise to condemn after the first 
failure, which, after all, may have its cause less in the 
teacher than in his surroundings. The majority of teach- 
ers in any large system of schools will be found lacking in 
experience. Their power is a germ, and needs the sun- 
shine of a smile, the rain of kind advice, for its develop- 
ment. Often the best teachers grow slowly into efficiency. 
Their superintendent will need a large stock of patience. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 61 

But patience may have her perfect work, and forbear- 
ance may cease to be a virtue. If his patience has not 
been simply enduring, but active in correcting faults with 
which he deals, consciousness of inability on the part of 
the teacher will honor the superintendent's decision, and 
the teacher will yield to his judgment. Its justice will be 
recognized, having been tempered with mercy. 

4. Justice. — The justice of the superintendent must 
appear in dealing with the faults of his teachers as well 
as in his estimate of their merits. Overpraise, misapplied 
praise, are as unjust as is unmerited censure. To with- 
hold friendly criticism at proper times, and then to visit 
judgment for faults which might have been corrected, is 
the rankest injustice. Such a course assumes that the 
teacher is conscious of his fault, and willfully continues its 
practice. Proper time for the correction of a teacher's 
fault is when it can least weaken his influence. In this 
matter the discretion of the superintendent will show it- 
self. As faults may appear more frequently in matters of 
discipline than of instruction, the superintendent who is 
discreet will not reprove in the presence of pupils. 

If to the superintendent's human nature some favor- 
ites are essential, let them be selected from the list of 
those who have " organized victory " for themselves ; who 
have " come up out of great tribulation." Such will have 
the good sense not to be harmed by favoritism. Better 
still if he can so far overcome human frailty as to be the 
fast friend to merit wherever found ; the faithful friend to 
the faulty, whosoever they may be. Justice withholds not 
merited censure, confers not unmerited praise. 

As, in the mind of the superintendent, the teacher can 
not be separated from his work, the pupils' interests will 
appeal often for defense against the unjust conduct of the 
teacher. Injustice may exist where the best of motives 



62 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

prevail. Self-interest may sometimes underlie great devo- 
tion to the interests of pupils. The habit of grading 
teachers upon percentages obtained by their pupils in ex- 
amination leads necessarily to great abuse. Any superin- 
tendent, who makes such examinations the basis of public 
award, encourages teachers in cultivating the arts of de- 
ception ; in finding some means whereby to get rid of 
those pupils whose marks would lower the desired average, 
and to retain beyond proper time those whose marks will 
raise the average so much sought for personal ends. 

There are many elements beyond the mathematician's 
determination which utterly destroy the value of his 
results. 

No less unjust is the publication of comparative lists 
of promotions, within a specified time, unless it be accom- 
panied by a complete list of temporary or incidental influ- 
ences, which have favored or retarded the moving forward 
of pupils in individual cases. Conscientious teachers suffer 
always in such tabulated estimates of work. Promotions 
and examinations will be treated more fully hereafter. 

5. Helpfulness. — The larger experience can always 
be helpful in ways that will not abridge the freedom of 
the lesser. The work of instruction, specially, is shared by 
superintendent and teachers. He is the controlling spirit, 
they the active agents ; he the general in command, they 
the rank and file ; he plans, they execute. Under such 
conditions the superintendent's helpfulness will appear in 
manifold ways, as does that of a great military leader. 
His strength in leadership inspires confidence in the wis- 
dom of his plans. His trust in his subordinates gives 
them confidence in themselves, and brings out the best 
that is in them. His patience with their inexperience 
awakens in them desire for improvement, and leads them 
to watch for suggestions which his riper experience enables 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. G3 

him to give. His justice in awarding praise or in con- 
demning inefficiency and carelessness — even in punishing 
the willfully negligent or disobedient — will win the most 
loyal support. 

Thus it will appear that the features prominent in a 
superintendent, who recognizes his relation to teachers, 
combine in the last. His recognized leadership, his con- 
fidence, his patience, his justice, together render him ex- 
ceedingly helpful. 

Whether helpful or not depends upon the co-operation 
of the would-be helper and the would-be helped. The 
receptive teacher must be free to act after his own will, 
strengthened or modified, it may be, upon advice received. 
His freedom, however, is within limits prescribed by higher 
authority. Tools which he has not fashioned are placed 
in his hands. Materials are furnished without his being 
consulted. It is his to make the best possible use of the 
tools, and to fashion the materials after their highest pos- 
sibilities. 

Smoothness in the running of machinery depends 
largely upon the intelligence of its maker. He must 
know the character of the work expected, and the fitness 
of the machine for its work. He must prepare for such 
changes in adjustment as will meet the need of variety in 
the material to be wrought. But he can not stand con- 
stantly beside the laborer in whose hands the machine is 
placed. He may spend time in explaining its parts and 
what is expected of each — its adjustments, and how they 
are to be made ; he may also show varieties in material, 
how they can be readily detected, and the most economical 
method of classifying the material with reference to get- 
ting the most work out of the machine ; he may occasion- 
ally illustrate his teachings. But the work in its details 
must be left to the mechanic employed. The superin- 



64 SCHOOL SUPERVISION-. 

tendent provides a course of study properly adjustable to 
the needs of a variety of pupils ; he explains its general 
plan, shows where adjustments can be made and when 
they should be made, gives teachers a general insight into 
varieties of material which different localities will furnish, 
and changes which will at some time appear in the prod- 
uct of the same localities ; he will be ready to advise when- 
ever unforeseen difficulties appear. Here his responsibility 
ends. He must feel the assurance that the teacher whose 
freedom he recognizes is in his absence finishing a product 
as large as a skillfully handled machine can bring out, and 
as perfect as the material furnished is capable of, and 
within a time agreeing to conditions in which the teacher 
is placed. 

The teacher, in accordance with advice as he interprets 
it, after his well-studied plans, knowing that results only 
are sought, without reference to the particular method 
employed, puts himself, just as he is, into his work ; at- 
tempting only what he can do in his own way, with con- 
stant effort to improve as experience shall furnish light. 

The superintendent feels responsibility, a part of which 
he transfers fully to the teacher. The teacher accepts the 
transferred responsibility as if original. 

The superintendent must recognize the authority of 
the teacher within his province as being as sacred as 
his own. 

His right to do certain things may be unquestioned ; 
but, if he exercises that right without regard to the teach- 
er's right to be consulted upon the matter, he does a wrong, 
and shows his own unfitness for the best work. 

Neither may enter the peculiar domain of the other 
without conference and consent. 

An important subject necessarily prominent in the dis- 
cussion hitherto, especially if the figure of military service 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 65 

be at all appropriate, is that of the superintendent's au- 
thority. What powers should he possess in the 

Appointment, Transfer, and Dismissal of Teach- 
ers ? — If his leadership be only in name ; if his confidence 
or want of confidence be shorn of all value, since he can 
have no voice in the appointment or dismissal or change 
of teachers ; if his patience perfected be barren of good to 
those who have improved under its exercise, or his patience, 
tried beyond measure, is only a continued source of suffer- 
ing to himself; if his justice fail of execution; if his help- 
fulness be only in advice — the question is a very natural 
one, Why employ a superintendent at all ? 

Another question may be pertinent, also, if the exact 
opposite of the conditions stated above prevail, Why have 
a Board of Education at all ? 

These two questions are briefly answered. The super- 
intendent should be neither a figure-head nor an autocrat. 
Between these extremes lies his province. 

The power to appoint and to dismiss teachers resides 
primarily in the Board of Education. The exercise of this 
power should rest upon knowledge of a teacher's fitness. 
This knowledge may be obtained only through a thorough 
inspection of a teacher's work. Members of a Board of 
Education are usually men of affairs or professional men, 
whose business or whose professional duties occupy a great 
part of their time. Were the appointment and assignment 
of teachers their only duty, time would fail them. Their 
work is manifold, and when well organized it rests with 
committees chiefly. One of these committees is the " Com- 
mittee on Teachers." The superintendent should be a 
member of this committee, and through it his power will 
be exercised. Under certain contingencies, notably the 
changes of teachers, the power of the committee may be 
delegated to the superintendent. 



66 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

" The vesting of the selection and appointment of 
teachers in the superintendent is a wise provision in large 
cities, wherein the members of the board are elected by- 
wards — a wise provision, not for the superintendent, but 
for the schools. It is believed that in no other way can 
teachers be so wisely selected; and a wise selection of 
teachers is certainly the most important duty in school 
administration. So far as the superintendent's tenure is 
concerned, it is undoubtedly better to vest the nomination 
of teachers in a standing committee of the board. When, 
however, this duty Ms imposed upon the superintendent, 
the law should in some way afford him needed protec- 
tion."* 

The effect upon the superintendent's position, as stated 
by Mr. White, is a valid objection to vesting the supreme 
power in him. If he be conscientious, the disappointed 
rain upon him their blows, and he stands without defense 
of those whom he serves. The least thoughtful clamor 
for his overthrow, and the schools suffer loss. Were his 
hand hidden in the committee over whose acts he might 
possess a controlling influence, his services would be 
retained until the wisdom of his counsel were fully ap- 
proved. 

The vesting of supreme power in a superintendent 
might chance to fall upon a time-serving officer whose 
personal interests outweighed all considerations of good to 
the schools, and thus incalculable injury be done. 

If a place in the Board of Education may become at- 
tractive because of its possible patronage, what measure 
can be applied to the strength of temptation when the 
entire control of the teachers of a city is vested in a super- 

* E. E. White, National Council of Education, Proceedings, 1889, 
p. 97. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO TEACHERS. 67 

intendent ? The unworthy applicant would not scruple 
at any means whereby to secure such an opportunity for 
personal profit. The risk is too great to be assumed. No 
capable superintendent would wish to assume it. 

In the conferences of a " Committee on Teachers," the 
merits of a candidate for appointment are stated by the 
superintendent. Between two or more candidates there 
may be in his mind a very slight choice. Members of the 
committee may know of reasons which would fayor the 
selection of one rather than another in the place to be 
filled. In counsel of men, no one of whom has absolute 
power, who have no other purpose than to serve the inter- 
ests of the schools, each may be the best judge in certain 
directions — one as to the fitness of candidates, another as 
to fitness of the place, still another as to the conditions 
which would favor one of several equally meritorious can- 
didates. Such counsel can not be other than profitable. 
If appointments are thus carefully considered, dismissals 
will be rare. It is easier to keep out an inefficient appli- 
cant than to remove an unsuccessful appointee. In mak- 
ing appointments the best material is not always at hand. 
Mistaken views of ability may be entertained. If after 
trial the superintendent finds he can not rely upon accept- 
able service, he must have some opportunity for relief. 
This opportunity appears in one of two forms — change of 
place or removal. The first will be found a favorable 
opportunity for the best work of a competent superintend- 
ent. In his rounds of inspection he becomes thoroughly 
acquainted with the peculiarities of each situation as well 
as with the characteristic features of each teacher's work- 
In his study of means of improvement of the schools un- 
der his supervision, he will have in mind both persons 
and places. Misfits are remembered. They are ordinarily 
few in number, and may be reduced by changes. The 



68 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

power to make such changes should reside in the superin- 
tendent, subject to appeal. Inasmuch as good will result 
to the place, and a better status to the person, there can 
be little opportunity for criticism of the superintendent's 
acts. On the contrary, he may be strengthened in his 
position by the exercise of such power. When a misfit 
proves a chronic condition of the person, removal is the 
only remedy. Then it is well for the superintendent that 
he have the support of a " Committee on Teachers." 

The relation of a superintendent to his teachers can 
not be considered fully until the subject of school organi- 
zation is treated. It will there appear incidentally. 

In the management of the school machinery, superin- 
tendent and teachers are alike interested. Upon its smooth 
and efficient working depend the interests of pupils. 

It can not be denied that in all quarters the machine 
itself has received an undue share of attention. Engineers 
have been pleased with its beauty, and have thought too 
little of its product. Organization has been treated too 
much as an end. Progress implies the turning of thought 
from the machine now well established to the result of its 
working — to the product of its manufacture. 



CHAPTER X. 

GRADATION AlO) COURSES OF STUDY. 

As a leader of teachers, the superintendent needs a 
well-defined route with which he is perfectly familiar. It 
must be as direct as possible to the end sought. Its grades 
and its curves should be established at the outset. Mod- 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 69 

ern processes in road-building are applicable to the royal 
highway to knowledge. There are milestones for the de- 
termination of the rate of progress. There are stations 
for the exchange of motive power, with intermediate sta- 
tions for the convenience of patrons. There are schedule- 
cards for the minute guidance of conductors. There are 
blanks for reports to headquarters. Strict obedience to 
the orders of train-dispatchers is enjoined. Within limi- 
tations many things are left to the discretion of conduct- 
ors. Some trains are run for the special accommodation 
of " through passengers and freight." These have special 
consideration in right of way. Other trains accommodate 
" way-passengers," whose routes are short or necessarily 
broken. 

These modern features in the work of transportation 
have appeared in school machinery. The route of the 
pupil is marked off more or less minutely. At certain 
stations changes are made in teachers. " Through " pu- 
pils pass on under new conductors. A few pupils have 
left the train at way-stations where others have entered. 
The train-load continues about as it began, though passen- 
gers have changed. Classes live, even if their membership 
changes. The time-schedules are followed between the 
terminals, even though circumstances may interfere with 
a steady rate of progress. Movements are directed from 
headquarters, to which reports are made at regular times. 

This railway model for school management has had an 
evil influence in many directions. First, it permits no 
pupil to move more rapidly than his particular train is 
scheduled for. While for the majority this rigid observ- 
ance of time-cards may be suitable, it retards the progress 
of a minority until they become indifferent, or leave the 
train in disgust. Secondly, it pulls along some whose 
strength fails them because of the weariness of the way. 



70 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

These become a burden to the conductors, and are left at 
some station till they recover ability to proceed on their 
journey. 

To change the figure from a roadway to a water-way. 
Gradation here involves a series of locks, if it be an arti- 
ficial channel. Freight is floated into a lock, the gates 
closed behind it, and with a steady letting in of water 
from above it is raised to a proper level for a forward 
movement when another process of gradual lifting ensues. 
This may be a better model than that of the railway, inas- 
much as the time-schedule is not so rigidly followed. 

Better still the figure of the natural water-way, over 
which boats may glide from point to point as favoring 
winds or tides, or their peculiar structure, may determine. 
All move in one direction. There is no danger of collis- 
ions, if the opportunity be given for the fleeter boat to 
move forward unobstructed. Attention will be given to 
this matter in the next chapter. 

Gradation is often taken in its too literal signification, 
and there is presented to the thought a series of steps with 
broad treads and high risers. Upon each tread the class 
is kept for a specified time, and upon trial of strength the 
next riser is reached at a leap by the majority, and the few 
are allowed to fall back until at some succeeding trial their 
strength shall prove sufficient for the rise. The rise is too 
severe a task of strength in many cases. 

If we substitute an inclined plane for the stairway, 
upon which every step forward is a step upward, and there 
comes no time when the entire weight of the body is to 
be lifted at a single effort, there will be less opposition to 
graded systems. The "course of study" will lie beside 
this inclined plane, with some divisions more or less nat- 
ural, and over each division the child is led by a helpful 
teacher — the child's strength growing at each step, and 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 71 

his courage brightening as he finds his range of vision en- 
larged at each forward movement. Under the head of 
promotions this thought will be more fully treated. 

In arranging a course of study, one error is likely to 
arise. It is assumed that the initial point of the course 
of study is the beginning of a child's education. No more 
fatal error can be cherished. A child enters school at six 
years of age. The years of his life already past have been 
crowded full of lessons. It will be a strange thing indeed 
if he has not profited by these early lessons, and hence 
enters school with some measure of mental force. His 
home influences have determined the measure as well as 
the direction of this force to a large degree. Any course 
of study which assumes its entire absence makes a dear 
mistake. 

The child's earlier months in school are too often 
frittered away upon matters with which he should have 
become conversant through proper home instruction. In 
well-regulated homes this work is well begun. But in 
many it is of necessity neglected ; in many others igno- 
rance or indifference prevails. Benevolent individuals, 
with time and means at their disposal, have stepped in at 
this point of need and have organized and conducted 
" free Kindergartens." The purpose is sketched admirably 
by a devotee : " Take the child into the Kindergarten and 
there begin the work of physical, mental, and moral train- 
ing. Put the child in possession of his powers ; develop 
his faculties ; unfold his moral nature ; cultivate mechan- 
ical skill in the use of his hands ; give him a sense of sym- 
metry and harmony; a quick judgment of numbers, meas- 
ure, and size ; stimulate his inventive faculties ; make 
him familiar with the customs and usages of well-ordered 
lives ; teach him to be kind, courteous, helpful, and un- 
selfish ; inspire him to love whatsoever things are true 



72 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

and pure and right and kind and noble ; and thus 
equipped physically, mentally, and morally, send him 
forth to a wider range of study, which should include 
some sort of industrial training, and still further give the 
boy or girl a completed trade. Thus will they be prepared 
to solve the rugged problem of existence by earning their 
own living through honest, faithful work." * 

The importance of this preliminary work can not be 
overestimated. Nor should the State depend upon pri- 
vate contributions for so necessary a work. 

If supervision can not be extended over this work as 
part of a school curriculum, it should recognize its exist- 
ence, accept the work done, introduce its methods so far 
as they may be made applicable to the development of the 
child's powers in the years ordinarily devoted to common- 
school work. This will solve the question of manual train- 
ing, so warmly discussed at the present day. It will secure 
for the child the habit of self-direction in the exercise of 
his physical, mental, and moral faculties. Eventually his 
self-direction will manifest its preferences. Whatever his 
ultimate choice may be, a sure foundation will have been 
laid for success. 

The elementary school teaches neither trades nor pro- 
fessions, but lays the foundation for the acquisition of 
either as the future purpose of the child may develop 
itself. 

The Kindergarten reveals to the child his possibilities. 
The higher institutions furnish to the youth opportuni- 
ties for a fitting for life-work. The weakness of our 
school system is in its middle grades. The cultivation of 
possibilities is checked, so that the youth comes up to his 
opportunities with little self-directive power. His choice 

* Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, San Francisco. 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. f3 

is made without knowledge of internal fitness, but under 
the stress of purely external conditions. The great work 
of the superintendent for the present is to lie in improv- 
ing the worn track between the initial and the terminal 
point. 

At the beginning of the course there should be the 
greatest possible mobility. Toward the end, greater ri- 
gidity may prevail ; at the beginning, prescription ; near 
the end, election. At first sight there may appear to be 
inconsistency between prescription and mobility, between 
election and rigidity. Experience in supervision will soon 
dispel all appearance of inconsistency. Mobility may be 
provided for in the arrangement of the programme, 
though studies be prescribed, and in more minute sub- 
division of the course, or, continuing the railway illustra- 
tion, in more frequent stations. So rigidity may be in- 
creased in the later stages of the course by introducing 
more studies into the course than can be pursued by any 
one pupil, and permitting at some convenient point an 
opportunity for choice, which, once made, must be rigidly 
followed. In the railway illustration the point of election 
will be the place where the road divides and different 
terminals are sought. 

The course of study is generally constructed upon 
the theory that pupils will complete it, and after a close 
calculation of average ability it is marked off by years, is 
called a " Graded Course," and serves a good purpose for 
the minority who compass it. But to the interests of the 
majority the superintendent must look. Shall he discard 
the course of study because, if pursued too rigidly, the 
majority suffer? To the greater part of this majority 
the course of study may be made serviceable through a 
discreet use thereof. It furnishes a natural order of 
studies ; it presents an agreeable variety ; it meets, step 



74 SCHOOL SUPEKVISION. 

by step, the capacity of the average pupil ; it does not for- 
bid the more rapid advance of the exceptional pupil ; it 
insures regularity of movement in an economical and 
efficient manner ; it analyzes the work and assigns por- 
tions to those who are best fitted by nature or acquired 
ability for the special work allotted to them ; it pro- 
vides through this division of labor for the use of the 
highest skill attainable. Its fault lies in its liability to 
abuse. The superintendent is set to the work of guard- 
ing against this liability to abuse. If the work under 
the course of study becomes mechanical, the fault lies 
in administration. For this fault the superintendent, 
left free in the work of instruction, is responsible. Leav- 
ing much to the discretion of teachers, he can the more 
properly criticise their acts. If he undertake to assign 
teachers at the beginning of each term or each month 
a task to be accomplished, as is sometimes unwisely done, 
he becomes responsible for purely mechanical work, and 
the abuse of the course of study lies at his door. If, 
bearing in his own mind the results which should in a 
given time follow a teacher's work, he passes judgment 
favorable or unfavorable simply by what he observes of 
results, without considering the circumstances which have 
affected that teacher's work, abuse of a good system lies 
at his door. Mechanical supervision has injured more 
pupils than mechanical teaching. Wise supervision culti- 
vates freedom of the teacher, makes sure that this freedom 
is the fullest exercise of personal rights consistent with 
the rights of others in like manner and in like measure 
free. If freedom becomes license, the superintendent 
knows and dares to use the remedy. 

After all care and the wisest possible supervision, there 
will appear exceptional pupils to whom the course of 
study is not adaptable. The time of these pupils is not 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 75 

at their full command. Attendance upon school must be 
irregular. The early advantages of some may have been 
limited, and their classification in a course of study upon 
their lowest attainment or even upon their average attain- 
ment would be prejudical to their advancement. Others 
need a closer relation to the teacher than class-work will 
permit. To all these, individual instruction is best 
adapted until their irregularities are overcome, and they 
little by little find themselves able to enter classes suited 
to their age. For such pupils provision should be made 
that they may have the benefit of individual instruction 
without the restriction of a course of study, but with 
reference to the eventual bringing of all into line with it. 
In every system of schools provision should be made for 
such special work in ungraded rooms with fewer pupils 
and the best teachers. This will not be necessary in rural 
schools. There a course of study can hardly be adopted 
which will prove of value. 

From stage to stage in the course of study advance is 
made as the result of some sort of inquiry as to the fitness 
of the pupil to take up new studies or advanced work in 
old studies. Such inquiry is called an examination, and 
the advance is a promotion. Modern gradation of schools 
furnishes an opportunity at longer or shorter intervals for 
such inquiry and subsequent advance. 

Theories of gradation have varied widely upon the 
number of grades and upon the grouping of grades. 
Primary group, Intermediate group, Grammar group, 
High School group, represent the nomenclature of one 
locality. Primary group, Grammar group, High School 
group, represent another locality. Still another presents 
Primary, Grammar, Intermediate and High School 
groups. There is no absolute _ uniformity as to the 
number of grades in each group. The cities of sev- 



76 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

eral of the central States have adopted a plan of grada- 
tion agreed upon by city superintendents of the larger 
cities in these States. , Three groups — Primary, Gram- 
mar, and High School — appear. Each group embraces 
four grades. Each grade is supposed to furnish work for 
one year. The division, though somewhat arbitrary, has 
this basis of reason : Primary work is quite largely oral 
in character; grammar work is largely text-book work; 
high-school work introduces a wider range of studies and 
election between courses which lead to college, or to prac- 
tical life deprived of the advantages which liberal educa- 
tion confers. Work below the high school cultivates the 
possibilities of hand, head, and heart that lie within the 
child. Manual training, intellectual training, and moral 
training are carried forward together and harmoniously. 
As the child approaches the high-school stage, he under- 
stands better his possibilities : he sees the parting of the 
ways ; he chooses a line of study which ends in the shop, 
the counting-house, the farm, or any of the ordinary in- 
dustries, or the line which stretches on beyond the high 
school into the college or professional school. If the 
college be his choice, he sees there another parting of the 
ways almost at the beginning of his course. Leadership 
of men, and directive power in measures, are promised him 
in one line; leadership of men and directive power in 
large industrial enterprises are his opportunities in another 
line. During the high-school course his uplook is a con- 
stant inspiration, as to the grammar-school pupil is the 
high school and to the primary pupil the grammar grades. 
The influence from above is pervasive and healthful. 
There is danger that this healthful influence will be weak- 
ened by too great rigidity of administration, too arbitrary 
a severance of the parts of the system. From the primary 
school through the college or the university a natural and 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 77 

easy course is possible. Public-school men and college 
men are understanding one another better, and the oneness 
of their work is happily recognized in these latter days. 

In the matter of course of study the superintendent 
will find his hardest work in resisting the attempt to foist 
everything upon the schools. 

If some social need in the line of moral reform makes 
its urgency felt, the press and the public school must be 
arrayed for its removal. 

" In loco parentis " is a phrase which is doing incalcu- 
lable harm in shifting burdens from the parent, now too 
much relieved, upon the public school, already overbur- 
dened. 

The superintendent will act wisely who resists the 
effort to put the whole task of education upon the school. 
Home, school, and church share the responsibility with 
the great educator, the public press. The school needs a 
defender. The press will take care of itself. The home 
needs spurring to activity. 

The discussion of the place of " manual training " has 
awakened a great interest. No person is better prepared 
to speak upon this subject than he who is the father of 
what are called " Manual Training Schools " in this coun- 
try. Upon the course of study in one of these schools he 
says, "It must evidently give a thorough training in 
the lower mathematics, arithmetic, algebra, plane and 
solid geometry. 

" There will be abundant opportunity to use the facts 
and methods of arithmetic and geometry in the shops and 
drawing-rooms ; but no familiarity with the facts, no fa- 
cility in instrumental drawing, should obscure the value 
of purely geometrical reasoning. As a rule, not one stu- 
dent in five goes far enough in mathematics, pure and 
applied, to make an intelligent use of his algebra ; never- 



78 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

theless, his knowledge of its elementary methods must be 
full and clear. The elements of botany, chemistry, and 
physics, including at least their phenomenal sides, and 
some of the more obvious generalizations, should be thor- 
oughly studied during the course at the Manual Training 
School ; but in every case the laboratory method should be 
used. Generalizations made by an author, for which no 
sufficient evidence is presented to the student, are of no 
educational value. They are like assertions in history or 
geography, which are to be taken on faith. Eeal objects, 
experiments, and tests — I care not how familiar they may 
be to the teacher — must give the student his basis for judg- 
ment and generalization. Above all, I would advise teach- 
ers to avoid putting their elementary students at really new 
work, at strictly original research. All the ground should 
be familiar to the teacher, and, though the pupil ap- 
proaches it as a learner, as a discoverer of new truth, the 
teacher should, as a rule, know what he ought to find. I 
have no patience with premature researches and childish 
inventions. I am inclined to think that chemistry is 
easier to teach in a laboratory than physics, on account of 
the latter's great demand for skill in manipulation and 
construction in the physical laboratory. One must be 
somewhat familiar with all work in woods and metals in 
order to properly study physics. In future we shall put 
our study of heat, electricity, sound, and light after the 
study of chemistry, in order to give time for the tool- 
training needed. 

" In a technical school, students have little time for 
history and literature, hence both should come systemat- 
ically into the preliminary or manual training school. 
The students are old enough to appreciate something of 
style, and to tell good writing from bad. By conscious 
imitation of good writers they readily see things clearly, 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 79 

use language accurately when they know what the thought 
is which they are to express, and they can easily master 
the simple mechanical details of composition. American 
and English history, and possibly some general European 
history, should be learned early, and always with a certain 
amount of geographical study. 

" No technical student should be ignorant of the ele- 
ments of Latin, and a fair reading command of at least 
one modern language in addition to his own. 

" Experience has shown that the drawing course can 
be carried much further in the preparatory schools than 
was formerly supposed possible. 

"The elements of tool-work in woods and metals I 
regard as eminently appropriate to the educational work 
in the manual training school. It is admirably fitted to 
meet the physical, mental, and moral natures of all healthy 
boys from the age of thirteen to eighteen. 

" I should say it with greater emphasis in reference to 
those classical schools which afford so little opportunity 
for dealing with the concrete and for getting primitive 
notions of the laws and properties of matter and force." * 

A careful review of the above quotation will disclose 
the fact that " manual training " accepts with approval a 
modern course of study, and adds thereto "tool-work in 
wood and metals," after the elementary school-work has 
been completed, and pupils have passed the age of thirteen 
years. 

Mr. Woodward, in his further discussions, emphasizes 
this added feature, and attributes to it special educative 
force. Upon this issue is joined. 

The claim of superior educative force in tool-work as 

* C. M. Woodward, National Educational Association, Proceed- 
ings, 1888, p. 587. 



80 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

carried forward more or less prominently in connection 
with mere scholastic work is met by one of the clearest 
thinkers upon educational subjects of our time in the fol- 
lowing manner : 

"The ever-present argument of the economical view 
of education calls attention to the fact that the great 
majority of children are destined to earn their living by 
manual labor. Hence, it is argued, the school ought to 
prepare them for their future work. The scientific view, 
that lays so much stress on the protraction of the period 
of human infancy, is opposed to this demand for filling the 
child's mind with premature care for this future drudg- 
ery. In fact, this scientific doctrine has already been 
anticipated by the humane Christian sentiment which 
has founded public schools ; for there is a conviction deep- 
seated in the minds of the people that all children ought 
to be educated together in the humane studies that lie at 
the basis of liberal culture. Just for the very reason that 
the majority have before them a life of drudgery, the pe- 
riod of childhood, in which the child has not yet become 
of much pecuniary value for industry, shall be carefully 
devoted to spiritual growth, to training the intellect and 
will, and to building the basis for a larger humanity. 
Such a provision commends itself as an attempt to com- 
pensate in a degree for the inequalities of fortune and 
birth. Society shall see to it that the child who can not 
choose the family in which he shall be born, shall have 
given him the best possible heritage fortune could bring 
him, namely, an education that awakens him to the con- 
sciousness of the higher self that exists dormant in him. 
The common school shall teach him how to conquer for- 
tune by industry and good habits and application of the 
tools of thought. 

" The education of the muscles of the hand and arm, 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 81 

the training of the eye in accuracy, go for something in 
the way of education, especially if these, too, are of a gen- 
eral character, and productive of skill in many arts. But 
it happens in most cases that the training of the muscles 
for a special operation unfits them more or less for the 
other special operations. 

" The course of study in manual training, in so far as it 
concerns the education of the hand, is limited to a narrow 
circle of trades in the wood and metal industries, and so far 
as it is auxiliary to trades and occupations directly, it con- 
cerns only one in twelve of the laborers actually employed 
in the United States. Indirectly, as dealing especially with 
the construction of machinery, it has a much wider appli- 
cation, and all laborers who employ machines or tools of 
any description will be benefited to a greater or less degree 
by a course of manual training, and there is something edu- 
cative in it for all who are to use machines. This is the most 
important argument that can be urged by the advocates of 
the manual training school in behalf of its educative value. 

" No justice as yet has been done by the advocates of 
manual training to the claims of industrial drawing as a 
training for the hand and eye and the aesthetic sense. If 
the pupil pursues this study by the analysis of the histori- 
cal forms of ornament and acquires familiarity with grace- 
ful outlines and a genuine taste for the creation of beauti- 
ful and tasteful forms, he has done more toward satisfying 
the economic problem of industry than he could do by 
much mechanical skill. The great problem in the indus- 
try of nations has come to be the aesthetic one — how to 
give attractive and tasteful forms to productions so as to 
gain and hold the markets of the world." * 

* Report of committee at the Nashville meeting of the National 
Council of Education, Proceedings, for 1889, p. 76. 



82 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

One more quotation will suffice : " The connection of 
academic culture and the practical application of science 
is advantageous to both in a school where these objects 
are started together and carried on with harmony in equal 
prominence. The academy inspires its intelligence into 
the work of the shop ; and the shop, with eyes open to the 
improvements of productive industries, prevents the mo- 
nastic dreams and shortness of vision that sometimes para- 
lyze the profound learning of a college." * 

The claim sometimes urged that tool- work should find 
a place in all public schools does not find indorsement in 
either of the quotations made. In large cities it is pos- 
sible to establish a department for manual training in 
tool-work. In every school, manual training should find a 
place through industrial drawing, which cultivates eye and 
hand for all purposes, and lays the foundation for success 
in all kinds of mechanical pursuits to which the older 
child is introduced in the " Manual Training School," the 
" School of Technology," or the " Professional School " ; 
while it is most helpful in every way to the child who fails 
of opportunity to reach either. 

Cultivation of the child's aesthetic nature through 
drawing makes him a better citizen as things beautiful 
attract him, and things naturally unattractive take on 
beauty under his touch. His simple home is more attract- 
ive in itself, in its surroundings. His homely duties are 
performed in a more attractive and less burdensome way. 
By all means make much of drawing in a course of study. 

Systems of gradation and courses of study are needed 
servants, but may become tyrannous masters. They are 
servants to obey rather than to command. Their service 
is determined by the need of their masters. The form of 

* C. 0. Thompson, Journal of Education, vol. vi, p. 4. 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 83 

service must vary with varying conditions. It must change 
with every change in the work they are set to do. Any 
course of study so crystallized as to involve its destruction 
in an attempt to force it into new service is not at any 
time suited to the want of a progressive community. 

Our school machinery has come into public disfavor at 
times because that which is well adapted to large cities has 
been forced into service in smaller cities and towns where 
very diverse conditions prevail. Because of this attempt to 
imitate in minute details, failure has resulted. The gen- 
eral principles of gradation and of a proper course of 
study to correspond thereto are valuable, and under wise 
modification in details — a modification which the peculiar 
circumstances of the community require — are applicable 
to nearly every community of moderate population. 

Experience will dictate when changes are necessary. 
The superintendent is the man to gather up the fruits of 
experience and to advise the changes. Any " Manual of 
Instruction " needs constant revision ; hence it should be 
general in character, with wide margin for the discretion 
of teachers. It should be considered as advisory rather 
than prescriptive, assuming always that teachers have com- 
mon sense and will pursue the natural order of studies — 
will require no impossibilities, and will confine themselves 
to the part of the work specially assigned them. This 
may in some cases be a violent assumption. Where it 
proves itself such, there the superintendent must direct 
until his inexperienced teachers learn to " do by doing." 
By slow degrees trust develops wisdom. The resignation 
of the teacher should soon follow his demonstrated inabil- 
ity to go alone. 

No question regarding the course of study will so fre- 
quently challenge the attention of superintendents as that 
of its extent. Its elementary domain is thoroughly estab- 



84 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

lished ; but when an attempt is made to extend that do- 
main, so that it may include other branches beyond those 
of reading, writing, and arithmetic, in some quarters 
strong opposition will be encountered. With what argu- 
ments shall the superintendent fortify himself ? 

1. He must dispel the notion that high schools are a 
modern invention. Before the modern gradation of 
schools there was no line drawn between elementary 
studies and higher studies. Physiology, astronomy, natu- 
ral philosophy, and Latin were taught in the earlier pub- 
lic schools, without a word of complaint from tax-payers. 
Failure to employ teachers competent to give instruction 
in higher branches was brought before the courts of Mas- 
sachusetts in the year 1816. The jury in the lower courts 
presented the town of Dedham for neglecting " the procur- 
ing and supporting of a grammar-school master, of good 
morals, and well instructed in the Latin, Greek, and Eng- 
lish languages, to instruct children and youth in such 
languages, which is in subversion of knowledge and in 
hindrance of that promotion of education which the prin- 
ciples of a free government require," etc. The Supreme 
Court of the State sustained the finding of the court be- 
low. (See Tyng's Massachusetts Eeports, vol. xvi, p. 441.) 

At another time, suit was brought to restrain the col- 
lecting of a tax for the support of a high school in New- 
buryport, Mass. The court declares that " the schools 
established by the town of Newburyport, though extend- 
ing to instruction in branches of knowledge beyond those 
required by the statutes, were yet town schools within the 
proper meaning of that term, provided for the benefit of 
all the inhabitants." (See Metcalf's Massachusetts Ee- 
ports, vol. x, p. 508.) 

An Illinois Supreme Court decision declares that " the 
General Assembly has invested school directors with the 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 85 

power to compel the teaching of other and higher branches 
than those enumerated to those willing to receive instruc- 
tion therein, but has left it purely optional with parents 
and guardians whether the children under their charge 
shall study such branches." (Illinois Eeports, vol. lxxix, 
p. 567.) 

In 1880 another Illinois decision is to the effect that 
the study of " German is permitted unless specially inhib- 
ited." 

The Supreme Court of Michigan holds that " neither 
in our State policy, in our Constitution, nor in our laws, 
do we find the primary-school district restricted in the 
branches of knowledge which their officers may cause to 
be taught, or the grade of instruction that may be given, 
if their voters consent in regular form to bear the expense 
and raise the taxes for the purpose." (See Michigan Ee- 
ports, vol. xxx, p. 69.) 

A pretty thorough search of State reports of all the 
States of the Union has resulted in failure to find other 
decisions upon this subject. Not one adverse decision ap- 
pears. It may be noted that nowhere in the citations 
made, except in the Illinois decision of 1880, does the 
term " high school " appear. It was so obviously a part 
of the common-school system as to need no special des- 
ignation. The name came into use with the modern 
gradation of schools, accompanying the division of labor 
in our industrial world. The principle had existed and 
the work had been done under the name of " common 
schools " before gradation was established. No new thing 
is introduced, but a new name. Change of name can not 
certainly take away the right to exist. 

2. Turning now to another point — the relation of our 
common schools to our social and political systems — the 
words of some of the most intelligent of the framers of 



86 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

our republic are cited. Eeferences are made to the fol- 
lowing: Jefferson's Letter to Colonel Yancey, January 1, 
1816 ; Jefferson's Letter to Dr. Oorrea, November 25, 
1817 ; Jefferson's Letter to Dr. Priestley, January 27, 1800 ; 
Cadwallader Oolden's Letter to Franklin, November, 1749 ; 
Franklin's Letter to Samuel Johnson, August 23, 1750 ; 
Washington's Farewell Address. 

M. Buisson, French commissioner at the United States 
Centennial Exposition of 1876, made a special study of 
our school systems as they appear in many of the States 
which he visited, and in an elaborate report made to the 
French Government, he thus speaks of the American 
high school : 

" In other countries it is to be feared that the children 
of different classes of society, although they may be 
brought together for a time in the public school, will very 
soon be found separated as widely as are their families in 
the social scale. In America everything is done to retard 
and reduce the degree of that separation, by carrying as 
far and as high as possible that common instruction which 
effaces all distinction between the rich and the poor. 
Thus, do the two degrees of the public school render the 
State diverse but equally important service. The one 
gives to it an entire population knowing how to read and 
write ; the other draws from this mass a select few whom 
it endows with an intellectual capital sufficient to pay a 
hundred times its cost. How is this selection made ? By 
favor of public liberality which is a burden to none, 
thousands of children — the best prepared for the battle of 
life both by the example of their parents and by their own 
struggles — come out of the mass of the poor, perhaps 
indigent population, where otherwise they would remain 
undistinguished, and year by year infuse new life into the 
middle classes. If it be true that the prosperity of a re- 



GRADATION AND COURSES OF STUDY. 87 

public is in direct ratio to the renewal of these middle 
classes, to the abundance and facility of their indefinite 
recruiting, then the high school of the United States, 
whatever it may cost, is the best investment which can be 
made of national capital." 

This intelligent presentation is certainly free from all 
bias. Upon the benefit to the State, from the elevation 
of the middle classes ; from the possibilities opened to the 
poor ; from the removal of all caste distinctions ; from the 
feeling of independence which accompanies the gift in 
the mind of the recipient; from the claim for service 
which the State thus insures, rests a strong argument 
in favor of the high school upon social and political 
grounds. 

Every child in the lower schools feels the influence of 
the higher, and in striving after that which may be only 
a possibility to him, he enlarges and strengthens his actual 
attainments. 

The right of the high school to exist does not imply 
the right to complete absorption of public interest, nor to 
undue prominence in public regard. 

Local pride may lead to undue exaltation of the high 
school, and the superintendent needs to be watchful in 
behalf of the lower schools, the prime feature, but by no 
means the only feature of public instruction. 

3. The economic argument needs enforcing : 

" It is clear to all business men that a larger intelli- 
gence, a sharper intellect, a better cultivated mind are 
necessary to transact any kind of business successfully to- 
day, to meet the intense competition, and to succeed in 
any calling in life, than were required one, two, or three 
generations ago. It is also apparent that a still larger in- 
telligence, a sharper intellect, a better cultivated mind 
will be necessary to attain equal success a generation 



ss SOIIOOL SUPERVISION, 

hence than are Pound requisite bo-day« H" the Porogoing 
propositions are admitted) it will appear that bhe principal 
aim of education Is bo discipline bhe mind and inorease its 
powers not merely as an instrument Cor an immediate end, 
but especially as a means tor more distant and, perhaps, 
[ndireot results bo Polios \ in short, bhat greater ability 
and consequently greater suooess and usefulness may l>o 
attained in life. 

"Two things, then, would follow of tieoessitys i. That 
the business interests of the oountry require a large ad 
vanoe in bhe quality and completeness of school work 

07er I he past. 2. 'That bo attain this result we must, 

improve bhe generally aooepted ourribulum of sohool 

studies. 

M 1'Youi (he first of bhese we infer that the high Bohool 
is necessary for bhe successful oarrying out o( bhe business 
projects of bhe oountryj and, Prom bheseoond, thai care- 
ful ai lent ion should be given to arranging bhe most philo? 

sopluc, tin- wisest, and the best course o( studies for a, 
high school, whose chief function is io prepare VOUtig 
men for a business life,' 1 * 

In the line o( industrial pursuits, too, the high school 
seems as ;« % rcat a uecessit v : 

M In a body of students pursuing technological stiulies, 

it is easy bo detect the advantage those have who have 
1 fitted for college,' as shown in power o( concentrated at- 
tention, quiokness and aoouracy o( apprehension, dexterity 

in speech, and general command of themselves. Now as 

the high school isspeoially the boon o( bhe great produc- 
ing and manufacturing classes, and as beohnology draws 

its main support from the same classes, it is reasonable 

thai such a relation should exist between the two as 
* w. \. dowry, Eduoation, vol, iii, p. IC7, 



GRADATION and COURSES OF .STUDY. gg 

ihould enable all boys l<> attain the greatest possible ad- 
vantage from boili." * 

Mr. 0. 0. Thompson discusses the place of manual 
training as beyond the lower grades, and suggests such a 
curriculum tor the high school as shall provide for tool- 
work in wood and iron in alternation with studies in 
algebra, geometry, trigonometry, drawing, science, and 
English : 

" Lacking the high school, the pupil of fche lower 
schools would Lose a chief incentive to exertion. Build in 
front of him at fche rery start of his career an impenetrable 
wall barring all future progress, and fche motive to activity 
is gone. His life at once begins to shape itself to Lower 

aims, and he #rows content to be a small creature. . . . 
The eourse of study, too, for fche lower hcIjooIk is certain 

to feel the influence of the high school. ... In forming 

a Curriculum for the lower schools, the liberal spirit be- 
gotten of the high school is sure to furnish here and there 

a new element, a germ of growth which shall develop with 

flu; advancing civilization and culture of fche community, 

nay, rather shall be fche chief cause of this advance in 
civilization and culture. . . . 

" Hut, perhaps, the influence of the high school upon 
the lower schools is exerted most powerfully in providing 
for them a class of teachers of a higher grade of qualifica- 
tions than it was possible to secure under the former order 
of things. . . . The high school can not give us prof ession- 

ally trained teachers — the supplementary work of the 
normal school is required for that — hut it does give us 

teachers whose; rieWS have been broadened and whose love 

of knowledge has been deepened by some taste of a Liberal 

culture. . . . And this higher education of teachers, as a 

* C. 0. Thompson, Education, vol. iii, p. 171. 



90 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

class, renders possible the successful introduction into the 
lower schools — especially into the primary department — 
of those improved methods of instruction which have 
lifted teaching from something less than an empiric art to 
the level of a science, and are doing more than any other 
agency to make knowledge loved by the whole people. . . . 
It may be stated as an educational axiom that intelligent 
methods can be applied by intelligent teachers only. 
Machine methods are necessary wherever machine teachers 
are employed." * 

The historic and the economic arguments thus adduced 
should press home upon every superintendent the convic- 
tion that no system of instruction is complete when the 
primary and grammar grades have been provided for. 

The college and the university founded by public ap- 
preciation of their necessity fail largely of their purpose 
unless provision be made for the better preparation of 
students than elementary schools can furnish. The in- 
termediate stage may be provided for by private enter- 
prise. But, as the State does establish schools for higher 
instruction, as well as those for elementary instruction, it 
would certaiuly be a mark of the highest unwisdom to 
erect a structure of two stories in height and then expect 
private funds to be lavished in erection of a stairway. 
Nor can the university be burdened with this preparatory 
work. It is too expensive, and then fails to reach those 
whose means do not permit them to add the cost of board 
away from home to the incidental expenses of long travel 
to and from the college or the State university. Home 
influences are much needed in character-building at the 
time of study preparatory for a collegiate course. The 



* John Hancock, School Commissioner of Ohio, Education, vol. 
iii, p. 164. 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 91 

high school is a home school of great value to those who 
seek a liberal education in the college and university, but 
of greater value still to those whose conditions forbid the 
use of facilities for liberal culture, but whose ambition 
should be gratified by a taste of the earlier fruits of such 
a culture. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 

One method of administration places the several grades, 
as it were, in a series of rooms adjoining, but separated by 
a wall in which is a closed door. Once a year the door is 
opened for the passage of those who are provided with 
cards bearing the requisite percentage mark, and then 
closed for another year. To obtain these cards is the sole 
aim of the children, who think only of release from one 
cell and of admission to another, which they hope may 
prove more attractive, but of whose attractions they have no 
knowledge. They are not lured upward and onward. They 
are goaded by the dread of continuance for another year 
in the room which has lost all its attractions for them. 
Wise supervision has succeeded in opening the doors more 
frequently. Wiser supervision has rested less upon cards 
of admission bearing percentage marks, and more upon 
cards of merit obtained from watchful and loving teach- 
ers. Wisest supervision has removed the doors entirely, 
so that constantly a stream of influence flows downward, 
arousing a healthful ambition, inspiring self -activity, and 
furnishing a worthy motive for advance, and, in response 
to this influence, there is a steady movement of pupils 



92 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

upward. Another illustration is pertinent. Instead of a 
succession of terraces, upon each of which the child re- 
mains until he has acquired sufficient strength to leap at 
a bound from it to the next above, or, failing, falls back 
to go over his work of preparation for another trial — the 
superintendent will provide an inclined plane up which 
the child will pass as rapidly as his strength will permit, 
encouraged by each step forward, no matter how short it 
may be. Teachers stand beside this plane in regular work, 
seeking the advancement of all, but passing on to the 
hand of the next above, one by one, the little ones who 
have profited most by instruction, or who, by reason of 
natural aptitudes or home help, have developed the greater 
strength. The current thus started onward will need 
little special attention from the teacher. Those who are 
caught in the eddies at the sides are proper subjects for 
special effort on the part of the teacher until they are 
pushed into the current, and are thus moved along natu- 
rally and easily. Supervision of a teacher's work will be 
directed largely to what is done for those that hug the 
shore. While it is true that economy demands class or- 
ganization and instruction, it must be remembered that 
the class remains though its membership changes. The 
class moves on from stage to stage in the course of study, 
deflected here and there into eddies or projecting its more 
rapid current into the class above, receiving here those 
delayed in the passage of its predecessor, and there from 
the more rapidly moving pupils of the class succeeding. 
The superintendent meanwhile encourages all changes 
consistent with regulated ambition, and guards against 
the detention of favorites or the crowding to the side of 
those whose peculiarities do not win the teacher's regard. 
The superintendent will see that the utmost mobility pre- 
vails. With him individual promotions will be of very 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 93 

frequent occurrence ; class promotions in accordance with 
the strength of the current. Along the shore at intervals 
will be found landmarks which classes will observe by an 
examination which shall quicken their zeal, inform their 
judgment, give occasion to detect errors that they may be 
corrected, determine the result of past correction, and give 
sensible tokens of progress. 

Motion is universally acceptable to the human race. 
Motion forward is specially pleasurable, even though land- 
marks must be studied to make it observable. To the 
race all days are alike, but to the individual there are days 
marked by a red line. In the child's calendar the pro- 
motion days are red-lined days. Promotions, technically 
so called, should not be discarded. Preparation for them 
is exhilarating, success is refreshing, and even failure is 
not without its healthful influence. Their value, how- 
ever, is impaired when they are made the end of all effort. 
Nor should promotions occur at certain set times prede- 
termined. Especially harmful will prove the policy of 
making promotions synchronous with the end of a school 
year. Under such a system indolence prevails at the be- 
ginning of the year and cramming at the end. Just 
when, as a result of faithful work, teachers and children 
alike need lessened rather than increased burdens, the 
system of annual examinations and promotions at the end 
of the year will wear out both teachers and children in 
mind and body. In every large system of schools the rank 
of classes should be such that the whole field of study is 
under cultivation at all times. There should be no gaps 
of a year's length at any stage of the child's progress — 
least of all in the earlier stages — over which none can leap, 
and which prove discouraging to the pupil lacking in 
physical strength or in mental grasp. The opportunity 
for advancement by a series of short steps encourages to 



94: SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

rapid promotion, and the feeling that a little lost time 
does not put a pupil back out of sight of his former class- 
mates gives him a hope of regaining his lost place. The 
superintendent's ideal should be a stream flowing steadily 
with its particles mobile, ready to glide forward or to slip 
backward a little if the force of circumstances so decree. 
Within the system there should be facilities adapted to 
the ability of the more forward and to the need of the 
less gifted. The work of a grade should be fitted to the 
capacity of the average pupil. Subdivision of the grade 
into classes is desirable, the number of such classes lessen- 
ing as the pupil advances in the course of study. This 
subdivision makes the work of the teacher more effective, 
as the number in class is smaller. It is beneficial to the 
pupil, since the time upon any one exercise is shortened, 
coming within the limit of a child's ability to fix his at- 
tention, and it provides for frequent changes in the exer- 
cises of the school-room ; it cultivates also the habit of 
abstraction in the child, who can engage in one kind of 
work at his desk while another exercise of a different char- 
acter is carried on in the same room. This ability is of 
no small account to the child, and can not be cultivated 
where the attention of the entire room is engaged con- 
stantly upon the same work. General exercises suited to 
all, and best conducted when all participate, will relieve 
monotony and serve as a temporary release from confine- 
ment to class-work upon the floor, or slate-work at the 
seats. Four classes in each of the lowest grades furnish 
an excellent opportunity for a varied programme which 
will weary neither teacher nor pupil. This will allow ex- 
ercises of from ten to fifteen minutes each, and will pro- 
vide for the completion of the work belonging to that 
grade for the day. As pupils advance in years, and can 
endure longer exercises without weariness, the number of 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 95 

classes may be reduced until in the high school there 
need be no subdivision of the grade. Promotions are thus 
made possible more frequently, where they are most needed 
as a stimulus. Promotion from class to class in grade is 
as inspiring to little children as that from grade to grade 
is to older pupils. 

In no part can the superintendent's work be more 
sensibly felt than in the opportunity furnished him for 
promotion of pupils. In concert with teachers, who are 
guarded against the danger of looking to high percentage 
as evidence of their success, or in the exercise of his own 
rights whenever he sees it to be for the good of the child, 
he will make a wise use of the power lodged in the pro- 
motion of the pupil. He will not judge his teachers, as 
has been before remarked, by the numbers promoted in 
auy given time, but by the spirit with which those pro- 
moted pursue their course. 

Machinery may be made to work so smoothly as to 
hide itself in the excellence of the work done, or it may 
by its noisy clatter call attention to its own inefficiency. 
Promotions are part of school machinery, of which the 
superintendent is in large measure both maker and en- 
gineer. Promotions must be made after some general 
plan whose features are well understood. Examinations 
are a necessary part of a plan of promotions. 

Examination of pupils has a threefold purpose : 1. To 
stimulate pupils. 2. To enlighten teachers. 3. To aid in 
classification and promotion of pupils. A brief discussion 
of these points will indicate the superintendent's relation 
thereto, as well as the extent of his participation therein. 

1. Healthful stimulus is found in consciousness of 
progress. This knowledge is attainable in either of two 
ways — by comparison of one's present with his past, or 
by comparison of himself with others. A properly con- 



96 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

ducted examination of classes of pupils furnishes oppor- 
tunity for both comparisons. By one he ascertains the 
fact of progress ; by the other its rate. This comparison 
of the present with the past — of the I with the You — is 
observable in all human experiences. The frequent rec- 
ords made of the weight and height of the babe ; the ex- 
act progress of dentition; the account kept of progress 
through the range of infantile diseases ; the observance of 
birthday anniversaries ; the frequent consultations of the 
clock or the watch ; the study of mile-posts on a journey ; 
the daily balancing of cash accounts ; the yearly accounts 
of stock — are a few analogues to school examinations. 
Those which pertain to the work of mature life serve as a 
stimulus to continued or to modified effort ; to greater 
care in management ; to a cheerful and hopeful endurance 
of fatigue inseparable from successful pursuit of a worthy 
end. The light of a long-sought harbor has a wonderful 
cheer for the storm-tossed voyager, but before that light 
can be seen the log of the mariner will give knowledge of 
progress. The child looks not quite so eagerly for the end 
of his school life, for the present is to him all-absorbing. 
If the present shows a change from time to time, and al- 
ways in one direction, the child takes heart for further 
effort, until the future shall come to have some attraction 
for him, and he shall be stimulated to complete what he 
entered upon with little thought of anything but the ac- 
complishment of his present task. As he finds himself 
standing to-day where an older brother or some loved 
friend stood but a little time since, his desire to do what 
another has done gives vigor to his efforts. These oppor- 
tunities for marking progress are within the control of 
the teacher. They are too often mere arbitrary tests with- 
out reference to fitness as to time or character. Some one 
else has used the questions proposed, and, selected in ad- 



PKOMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 97 

Vance, the teacher unconsciously bends her efforts at 
instruction whither these questions lead. The results 
reached show rather how much cramming can accomplish 
than how much mental food has been assimilated, or how 
much strength of a permanent character has been at- 
tained. At this point supervision can be made effective. 
The superintendent needs to have the greatest measure of 
wisdom. His spirit will control examinations even if he 
be not present. In his rounds of observation he can not 
fail to suggest to teachers that which will modify their 
instruction. Even the most independent teacher will con- 
sult the chart of his wishes. The hobby of the superin- 
tendent, if he has one, is at once mounted by the teacher. 
It is possible for the superintendent, by a single examina- 
tion or by the furnishing of a single list of questions, to 
direct the whole course of instruction for a year to follow. 
The direct examination of pupils by a superintendent 
(unless in cases where the offices of principal and super- 
intendent are combined) should not be frequent nor at 
regular intervals. When attempted it should cover the 
whole range of study, without giving undue prominence 
to any one branch. It should require a knowledge of 
principles rather than of special illustrative examples. 
The questions should be so framed as to be easily under- 
stood by the pupils who have been properly taught, free 
from all ambiguity, and displaying rather the good sense 
than the knowledge of the examiner. A superintendent's 
examination should be directed rather to the judgment 
than to the memory of the child. Questions can be so 
framed as «to call for opinions rather than facts. The 
teacher's examination calls for facts more than for opinions ; 
but proper instruction will also strengthen the pupil's 
judgment, encourage him to think for himself, and to 
form his own opinions upon subjects contained in his text- 
8 



98 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

books. The frequent examination by teachers will test 
memory — the rarer examination by the superintendent 
will measure mental grasp. In marking results, also, dif- 
ferent courses will be pursued. Where facts alone are 
called for, there can be but one correct answer to the ques- 
tion. The possibility of different answers arises with the 
call for opinions. The opinion expressed may not agree 
with that of the examiner ; it may be very crude, perhaps 
without good foundation ; but the effort on the part of the 
pupil to formulate such an opinion, with some basis upon 
which it may rest, will not be without a stimulating 
effect. Facts have been held in the memory. Their rela- 
tive importance has been weighed. The result of com- 
parison has been expressed, and a new sensation has been 
awakened in the mind. The child's effort is not to recall 
what another has said, so much as to recall what impres- 
sion the statement left upon his own mind. The teach- 
er's examination reviews a small portion of text-book 
work. The superintendent's examination covers a wider 
field, and fastens upon the child's mind the connection 
between its parts. For illustration : A class in geography 
is examined by the teacher upon the soil, productions, 
etc., of a particular State. The superintendent inquires 
into the occupations of the people, with special reference 
to the exchange of products upon the basis of profit to 
each ; into the best channels for such exchange ; as to 
what locality one would seek whose tastes were in a cer- 
tain line of industry, as agriculture or manufactures of 
various kinds — wood, metal, wool, flax, cotton, etc. ; as to 
the disposal of surplus products; as to the best market 
for wheat, for coal, for woolen goods, for sleighs, etc. In 
history, the teacher calls for facts of single discoveries ; 
the superintendent for results of different discoveries 
upon our national character: the teacher for results of 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 99 

single campaigns ; the superintendent for the most impor- 
tant campaign of a series : the teacher recalls character- 
istics of individual generals, statesmen, inventors ; the su- 
perintendent asks for the pupil's opinion as to the most 
prominent of all. In arithmetic, the teacher asks hotv, 
the superintendent rather why — one calling for solution 
of examples, the other for statement of principles : the 
teacher confines himself to illustrative examples ; the su- 
perintendent more to principles illustrated. Of course, 
the superintendent's work will be of no avail unless the 
teacher's instruction has prepared the pupil for it. The 
efficient teacher will also engage in occasional examina- 
tions after the pattern adopted by the superintendent ; but 
the superintendent can not afford to spend his time upon 
the minute work proper for the teacher, unless in indi- 
vidual cases he distrusts the teacher's accuracy in details, 
and desires to learn through the pupils what defects exist. 
In another direction does the examination stimulate 
the pupil, when it is made, as it should be, a source of in- 
struction as well as a testing process. This result appears 
when the examination becomes a recitation of general 
character covering ground already passed over, without 
attempting to make comparison in percentages, but rather 
for the purpose of ascertaining what have been the teach- 
er's failures in instruction of the class or of individuals in 
the class. Here it may be said that much work called ex- 
amination is a mere testing process. It is like attempt- 
ing to pump water from an empty cistern. There is a 
hope that, while the teacher has consciously neglected to 
open the supply-pipe, the pupil has in some way remedied 
the neglect. The wisdom of the child who daily dug up 
his seed, that he might observe its germination and know 
something of the prospect of fruit, may be questioned, but 
it will bear a favorable comparison with that of the teacher 



100 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

who is constantly conducting " test examinations." The 
best teachers make of every recitation an examination in 
its truest sense. Such examine themselves more than 
their pupils. The questions they put to themselves are : 
" What end shall I seek in this day's lesson ? " " What 
means shall I use in attainment of that end ? " " What 
contributed most to the success or failure of yesterday ? " 
" What have I reason to expect of my pupils as the result 
of their known ability ? " 

If the teacher will subject himself to such an examina- 
tion, and abide by the decision following such a test, the 
nature and value of examination of pupils need never be 
discussed. The classes of such a teacher will ever have 
sufficient stimulus. 

2. The best teachers desire to know their faults in in- 
struction. Indifferent teachers need to have their faults 
flashed into their faces. The examination by the teacher 
will secure the first result — that by the superintendent the 
last. The theory that " we learn to do by doing " is just 
as applicable to teachers as to pupils. It is far more im- 
portant that the theory be realized in the case of the 
teacher than in that of the pupil. The examination will 
show how much the teacher has profited by the oppor- 
tunity of doing. 

Many examinations would become far more effective 
than they are if the teacher would read between the lines 
of the pupil's manuscript his own failure in instruction. 
If he will put a percentage upon his own work and profit 
by the information thus gained, he will increase the per- 
centage upon the future work of the pupil. 

But, after all, the teacher is a partial judge of his own 
work as it appears in his pupil's papers. He may too 
readily pass his defects over to his pupils, and the super- 
intendent needs the evidence which such papers afford. 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 1Q1 

It is possible that disheartened teachers may be encour- 
aged, as well as careless teachers rebuked, by an examina- 
tion of pupils. The benefit of such knowledge to the 
superintendent can not be overestimated. 

3. Examination as an aid to promotion. At this point 
we meet the greatest difficulty in the administration of 
school affairs. Examinations appear too frequently as the 
end of school-work rather than as a means to an end. So 
prominent has been the error and so ruinous its acceptance 
that wise men are tending to an opposite extreme — that of 
doing away with formal examinations for promotion of pu- 
pils, and relying upon the judgment of their teachers, with 
the possibility of the return of those once passed, if their 
promotion shall be found upon trial to have been premature. 
A danger lies here. No teacher wishes to run the risk of 
having his judgment proved a failure. His pupils will 
therefore be retained longer than is wise, so that prepara- 
tion for the next grade may be assured. Another danger 
is found in the fact that the human nature prominent in 
teachers will lead to a hasty judgment of pupils sent up, 
who, by reason of timidity under new surroundings, fail 
to do themselves justice upon trial. Becoming objects of 
distrust, these pupils are at still greater disadvantage. 
Promotion without some examination should not pre- 
vail, for both teacher's and pupil's sake. The judgment 
of the superintendent should accord with that of the 
teacher. The superintendent's judgment must rest upon 
some sort of an examination — an examination into the 
pupil's capacity, into his surroundings, and into the possi- 
bilities which a change may develop. 

In most of our large systems of schools the principal 
of each school is responsible for promotion of pupils within 
the range of his own work. A series of promotions through 
all the grades of his school will give him the ground upon 



102 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

which to base his judgment when from the highest grade 
his pupils pass to the next school above. In this next 
school, made up of representatives of several lower schools, 
the comparative merits of the principals below will be 
tested. Conscious of this, they may err in too great 
stringency of demand upon their pupils, and withhold 
promotion from some who are worthy, but of whose ability 
to maintain the reputation of their school the principal is 
not quite as sure as he would like to be. For those who 
are not up to the standard of the principal's judgment 
the superintendent provides an examination. Fearing 
that the results of this examination may not sustain his 
judgment, the principal will ordinarily give the pupil the 
benefit of any doubt. 

The result will be the almost certain promotion of en- 
tire classes. But the difficulty is not entirely solved even 
then ; for the classes appearing as candidates for pro- 
motion will have been subjected to a weeding process at 
an earlier stage. The superintendent, with no motive for 
the greater success of one principal than that of another, 
needs to look carefully into the possible abuses of any 
system of promotion. If he adopts the policy of a uni- 
form examination, he will find the ambition of principals 
lying in the line of high percentages, and the weeding 
process will help toward the end of their ambition. In 
examination of pupils there is danger that markings rest 
more upon language, which may be repeated from mem- 
ory, than upon understanding of principles ; more upon 
words than upon ideas ; more upon words as they are 
comprehended by the pupil than upon words properly 
placed. In the author's experience, an examination was 
once held upon the organs and processes of digestion. 
One child gave a very clear statement of the organs and 
the products of digestion, closing with this remarkable 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 103 

sentence : " Thus the food died yesterday." Any one who 
will pronounce the last two words hurriedly will note 
their similarity in sound to ."digested it." Not another 
mistake appeared, but this was enough to show an utter 
misconception of the subject taught. 

Of an exactly opposite nature was another examina- 
tion. The question was asked of a lad, " What use does 
the elephant make of his trunk ? " His reply was, " He 
uses it to transfer his food to his mouth." " Transfer ! " 
says the examiner, " what can that mean ? " " Trans- 
port," says the lad. The manner of the examiner con- 
veyed to the mind of the lad the impression that he did 
not yet 1 understand. After a moment's hesitation, and 
with evident disgust at the examiner's stupidity, he 
speaks, somewhat sharply, the word "carry," his whole 
manner saying, what his politeness would have prevented 
his uttering, " Can you understand that f " The lad un- 
derstood what he had been told, and had more than one 
form for the expression of his idea. If he were to re- 
ceive one hundred upon his first answer, what mark 
had he earned at the close of the conversation? — one 
which all will agree would lead to his promotion in lan- 
guage. 

One other illustration. Listening to a class of little 
ones who had nearly completed the primer, the visitor 
asked the privilege of reading a few selections from the 
book. Occasionally a word was miscalled, but a glance 
at the class revealed the fact that it was instantly de- 
tected. The class had been taught not to laugh at mis- 
takes. Repression of such a disposition was manifest all 
along the line. After the visitor had retired, one little 
miss self-approvingly said to her teacher, " I did not laugh 
at that big man when he did not know anything." The 
depth of the visitor's sorrow on hearing that such an 



104 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

opinion of his reading was held by a child, led him to 
mark the class perfect. 

" But the great remedy for the particular evil under 
consideration is intelligent, flexible supervision. Super- 
vision is of doubtful worth when it exhausts itself on the 
mere mechanism of a school system. It must, of course, 
secure uniformity and system ; but these may be attained 
without grooving the teacher's instruction or sacrificing 
his professional freedom and progress. To this end the 
superintendent must be qualified to instruct, inspire, and 
lead teachers in the work of professional improvement, 
and his supervision must be flexible enough to allow free 
investigation and experiment." * 

In nothing will the flexibility of the superintendent's 
plan appear so prominent as in the provision he makes 
for passing pupils from grade to grade. To the judgment 
of teachers whose intelligence he has tested under the 
largest liberty consistent with the execution of a general 
plan, he may commit the promotion of individual pupils, 
and, in many cases, of entire classes. This is specially 
applicable to the latei grades of a course, for, as classes 
advance from grade to grade, each step secures a greater 
degree of uniformity of attainment, due to greater regu- 
larity in attendance and to the more general influence of 
motives to advancement. The exceptional cases of brill- 
iant or of slow-moving minds bear a less proportion to 
the entire class. Supervision, if it has been effective at 
all, will have secured a better acquaintance with both 
teachers and pupils, and will have corrected the tendency 
to run in grooves. The less frequent calling for results 
permits the greater freedom to the teacher in the appli- 

* E. E. White, Proceedings of the National Educational Associa- 
tion, 1876. p. 61. 



PKOMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 105 

cation of methods of instruction. The superintendent's 
personal knowledge of the capacity of individual pupils 
increases as he watches their movement forward from year 
to year. In cases where few teachers are employed, this 
knowledge may be so full as to render examinations for 
promotion unnecessary. Where there are many schools 
in a system, promotions are generally made by the princi- 
pal of each individual school, who becomes superintendent, 
for the time being, within his own jurisdiction, and for 
the single purpose of advancing the pupils properly 
through the grades supervised. 

But in such cases it occurs that pupils from different 
schools are classed together in a higher school. It is de- 
sirable that they shall possess equal attainments — not in 
name, but in fact. Various judgments will have been 
passed upon those promoted — as various as the diverse 
views of the several principals regarding the completion 
of a course. Some will have driven their pupils over the 
course ; their work will have been superficial, their tests 
technical, their reliance upon percentages indicating the 
result of cramming rather than of training Others will 
have trained their pupils through the course ; their tests 
will have been of strength rather than of knowledge, 
their reliance upon power of continuance rather than upon 
single bursts of speed. 

It needs no argument to prove that, pupils so differ- 
ently taught and judged will not work well together in an 
advanced class. There is but one remedy for the evil, 
which is sure : it is the unification of the work of differ- 
ent principals, bringing all to feel that power in the pupil 
is not always represented by figures. Much may be done 
toward this unification of effort by means of the superin- 
tendent's frequent conferences with the principals. But 
after all the theorizing before an association, he can 



106 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

only determine the practical results by such an inspection 
of their work as a common examination will afford — an 
examination of such a character as shall present, in ques- 
tions prepared, the outcome of his theorizing. A single 
test may suffice for several years if it may be made to 
cover the entire ground traversed by the classes presented 
for promotion. This test will be of incalculable advan- 
tage as a means of instruction to teachers. 

An important question presents itself at this point for 
consideration. Shall examinations be written or oral ? 

A written examination can be made more uniform, 
unless the oral method be conducted as an individual ex- 
amination. This necessarily involves much more time on 
the part of the examiner while the questioning process 
goes on, but releases him from trying labor in looking 
over manuscripts. The reaction from excessive written 
work in our schools of all grades which has characterized 
the mechanical handling of school- work may lead to an 
opposite extreme equally harmful. 

School life is preparatory to active life in which the 
tongue will not be the only instrument for reaching the 
minds of others whom we would influence. Ability to 
convey thought to the mind through the eye is of equal 
importance with that of using the ear as the channel of 
communication. Practice in writing is as valuable to the 
child as practice in oral expression. As a stimulus to 
the child, therefore, written recitations should be required. 
Written examinations follow naturally in the same line. 
The mental ability of the child is determined by the 
clearness with which he states the results of his study. 
The two modes of expression, writing and speech, are of 
equal value. The mind active should avail itself of both, 
and the mind recipient is reached through both eye and 
ear. The child who can easily tell all that he knows must 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 107 

be reminded that at times those whom he would influence 
are beyond the reach of his voice. The child who can use 
the pen of a ready writer, and who finds his fingers more 
trusty than his tongue, must be reminded that his influ- 
ence over men will sometimes depend entirely upon his 
ability " to think upon his feet." As the examination is 
an agency for the preparation of the child for the pursuits 
of the man, both modes of address must be cultivated, that 
more than one channel of influence may be open to him. 

Since much depends in the child's mind upon his suc- 
cess in examination, especially when promotion is the end, 
it is proper that the road to success should be made as 
easy as possible. This can be accomplished by allowing 
choice of vehicle or change upon the route. 

Thus far examinations are rather influenced by the 
superintendent than conducted by him. His work is in- 
direct, but none the less positive. 

The time comes, however, when the superintendent 
may properly conduct an examination, for promotion of 
pupils, in person. Every one familiar with school- work is 
aware that under the most favorable forms of examina- 
tion some pupils "fail to pass." Failure maybe due to 
excessive anxiety or to indifference, or to certain physical 
conditions at the time prevailing. Such pupils remain as 
partly burned coal sifted out for replacement in the fur- 
nace, depending upon the new material about them for 
their complete conversion. There is greater likelihood of 
their becoming " clinkers," growing by accretion as they 
check the draught and prevent complete consumption of 
the matter about them, No effort of the teacher can bring 
them to glow under the heat applied. The size of this 
element increases with successive sifting processes, and it 
comes about that an entire class assumes the character of 
clinkers. The mass must be broken up. The superin- 



108 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

tendent may take such a class out of the hands of a dis- 
couraged teacher, and, without the paraphernalia of an ex- 
amination which has, become such a bugbear in the eyes 
of those often tried thereby, he can take out the parts 
which retain still some calorific properties, and placing 
them under new conditions, amid new surroundings, 
bring heart into their work and success in future trials. 
Even those who have not natural capacity for compassing 
the entire work assigned them may be passed on with a 
good degree of success in some parts of the work, and, un- 
der the stimulus of this partial success, they gain some 
strength and courage to attempt greater tasks. 

The best work of a superintendent will be found in 
his examinations of drift-wood, which by careful manipu- 
lation on his part may be pushed into the current and 
moved along by its force. At least he may help teachers 
in this direction, and secure the great end — the child's 
advance. 

The great danger lies in too much attention to class 
work, and not enough to the individual. 

Mechanism is essential, but it may become the end of 
effort rather than a means to an end. 

" As a mechanism, it demands that pupils of the same 
grade attend school with regularity, and that they possess 
equal attainments, equal mental capacity, equal home as- 
sistance and opportunity, and that they be instructed by 
teachers possessing equal ability and skill. But this uni- 
formity does not exist. . . . This want of uniformity in 
conditions makes the mechanical operation of the system 
imperfect ; and hence its tendency is to force uniformity, 
thus sacrificing its true function as a means of education 
to its perfect action as a mechanism. This is the inherent 
tendency of the system when operated as a machine, and 
hence the great difficulty in administering it so as to re- 



PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 109 

press this Procrustean tendency and secure a necessary- 
degree of uniformity without ignoring or forcibly reducing 
differences in pupils and teachers." * 

To question well is the best evidence of mastery of the 
subject. If it is the desire of the examiner to ascertain 
the pupil's knowledge, it may sometimes be learned better 
by assigning to the pupil the duty of questioning. As 
Bacon tersely says, " Prudens quaestio, dimidium scien- 
tiae" The better half, too, it may be said. " It tests 
knowledge, it teaches method, promptitude, self-reliance. 
It demands accuracy and fullness of memory, concen- 
trated attention, and the power to shape and arrange our 
thoughts." f This quotation is applied to the usual form 
of an examination, but it is equally applicable to the form 
of examination proposed. Mutual questionings and an- 
swerings by pupils may at times serve the best purpose of 
examination. 

Examinations " fail to test moral qualities. They do 
not tell whether the action of mind has been rapid or 
sluggish, nor how far the pupil has been influenced by a 
sense of duty or by a strong interest in his work." J 

An examination conducted by a superintendent must 
differ essentially from that conducted by a teacher in that 
he is not familiar with the exact ground covered by the 
teacher or with the relative thoroughness required in dif- 
ferent parts of the work, nor with the relative stress laid 
upon parts of the text studied. No two teachers will agree 
upon the most important parts of a topic under illustra- 
tion in their teaching — and as a superintendent's examina- 
tions extend beyond the walls of a single room and involve 

* E. E. White, Proceedings of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation, 1874, p. 255. 

f Fitch's Lectures, p. 174. % Ibid., p. 177. 



HO SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

a comparison of the work of different teachers, it is de- 
sirable that he meet these conditions in framing his ques- 
tions. To this end he should present more questions than 
he requires to be answered, and allow pupils to choose the 
number that will satisfy his demands. Six out of ten, ten 
out of fifteen, or some proportion of this sort, will suffice. 

But one caution is needed : the questions should be so 
framed as to present topics of equal importance in the 
subject ; and of equal value in results attained, so that the 
selections made by pupils can not evade important points 
and yet will suit best their relative ability. No credit 
should be given for answers beyond the required number, 
so that thoroughness rather than extent of work shall be 
the measure of success. 

Another feature possible and desirable is found in one 
exercise in which the pupil may take all the time he needs 
to consult authorities. It will test his readiness and skill 
in using references — a very important element in a proper 
education. Still another exercise will test the pupil's 
ready command of knowledge, his facility in expression, 
his self-control under limitations of subject and of time. 
It is an impromptu discussion for a half-hour of some 
theme which has engaged the pupiPs thought in the 
course of his study now under review. This exercise 
should be brief and exact as to time of beginning and 
ending. 

By all means avoid ruts in examinations by variety in 
methods, otherwise ruts will be very deeply worn by ob- 
servant and minutely following teachers. 

Examinations, as too often conducted by those who 
make percentages the end, may safely be laid to their final 
rest. Longer continuance will prove fatally infectious. 
Such examinations are the Mte noir of pupils who need 
encouragement more than terrorizing. 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO PARENTS. HI 



CHAPTER XII. 

RELATION OF THE SUPERINTENDENT TO PARENTS AND 
PATRONS. 

. The parent's interest in the school centers in the child. 
The right education of the child is his chief desire. He 
sends his child to the school that his character may be 
properly builded. His own time is so devoted to business 
and his energies so absorbed therein, that he trusts the 
teacher properly selected and efficiently supervised to do 
the work, for him. He gives little time or thought to the 
matter, since he trusts the teacher and the superintendent, 
much as he would do, when erecting a building ; he trusts 
his architect for a plan — his superintendent and mechan- 
ics for its construction. In his own casual inspection he 
may find fault with the builders, and the superintendent 
is called to correct the fault. As it appears to him, plans 
and specifications are not followed, material is not of the 
quality expected, time is not as agreed upon — the super- 
intendent becomes the arbiter. 

Frequent opportunities will be given the superintend- 
ent of schools for acting the part of a wise and just me- 
diator between teacher and parent. In no other part of 
his work will he need greater discretion. To make both 
parties in a conflict of opinion feel that he is a true friend 
whose decisions will always be just, demands experimental 
knowledge of the position held by each. One who has 
been a teacher and who is a parent is best prepared for 
such a demand. 

A teacher's vocation inclines him to self-assertion. 
Ever in the presence of inferiors, he is apt to become 
opinionated and dogmatic. 



112 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

A parent's love blinds him to faults in his own chil- 
dren, even if he does not magnify the faults of others. 
An opinionated teacher and a blinded parent being given, 
the conditions are favorable to a first-class controversy. 

An ex parte hearing of such a case but widens the 
breach, and a hasty decision, made upon the application 
of either party, lays the superintendent liable to the charge 
of injustice. Let both sides be heard in the presence of 
each other, and of the child over whom the controversy 
has arisen. The issue will then first be divested of all mis- 
understandings, and the case will settle itself to the satis- 
faction of both parties. Most controversies properly 
cleared of misunderstandings, are reduced to a compass so 
small as to shame those who persist in standing upon 
them. 

The wisdom of the superintendent will be seen in 
curbing the teacher's vanity and in curing the parent's 
blindness. In many cases, after a patient hearing of all 
parties concerned, there will be little left to the decision of 
the superintendent. Friendly relations are established. 
The teacher is strengthened in the opinion of the parent, 
either by a full acquittal of the charges made, or by a 
frank acknowledgment of error on the part of the teacher. 
Some teachers fear that admission of wrong may weaken 
their authority. Such a result the superintendent may 
avert, if in his conduct he secures the confidence and co- 
operation of the parent. Delay in rendering decisions 
until anger has had time to cool can never be harmf ul. 
At all events anger should not rest in the breast of the 
superintendent. His bearing should show a calm self- 
control, and an evident purpose to deal justly with all. 
These remarks apply with special pertinence to matters of 
discipline, yet to be treated. Sometimes, however, meth- 
ods of instruction are criticised. This is possible when 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO PARENTS. 113 

the parent has occupied the teacher's chair, and the prog- 
ress of the intervening years in school instruction is not 
recognized. So much is the teacher in the presence of 
inferiors that, as has been said, he becomes opinionated 
and self-assertive. As he leaves the teacher's office, and 
in the broad world is brought into conflict with his equals, 
and is compelled to yield at times to the opinions of oth- 
ers, he finds comfort in the thought that in the field of 
school instruction he can not be compelled to yield. The 
habit of mind so firmly established clings to him, and he 
really takes pleasure in the assertion of his views. To a 
different conclusion he is not easily brought, and patient 
endurance is the only cure. To increase the difficulty of 
harmonizing conflicting views, the fact of personal pa- 
rental interest appears. The quondam teacher's convictions 
born of the management of other people's children are 
strengthened when his own children are factors in the 
problem. 

It would be an excellent thing if the superintendent 
could plan for meetings with parents where open discus- 
sion of methods of instruction and discipline should bring 
the parties to a better understanding of each other's views. 
The teacher will become less opinionated. The parents 
will learn of the possibility of advance in the processes 
of education. 

After all, parental opposition is not so much to be 
feared as parental indifference. The chief question is 
how best to awaken interest, not how most effectively to 
ward off opposition. The first successfully accomplished, 
the last will disappear. 

It will not be found practicable for teachers to visit 
parents at their homes, but the visit of parents to the 
school may be in some degree secured. The superintend- 
ent may provide for exercises which shall occasionally en- 
9 



114 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

list the attention of parents without unduly interfering 
with the proper school exercises. 

Days of display of articles made by children at home 
or at school have an excellent effect upon the public in- 
terest and appreciation. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION" TO THE PHYSICAL 
TRAINING OE PUPILS. 

Time of confinement in the school-room and the con- 
ditions of the room as to heat, ventilation, and light, are 
the chief external matters which should challenge the 
superintendent's attention. 

Tasks assigned pupils and the nature of stimuli em- 
ployed by teachers must also be carefully observed. The 
introduction of the Kindergarten as an essential portion 
of a good school system has rendered the subject of 
" school hours " a matter of minor importance so far as 
their number is concerned. 

" The delicate child should be sent to school only as 
he can be without prejudice to his health; and though 
all power to regulate school attendance is, and must be, 
vested in boards of education, and the administration of 
their rules must be to a greater or less degree left to the 
discretion of the teacher, the wishes of careful and 
thoughtful parents ought, in public as well as in private 
schools, to be respected in this matter. On the other 
hand, in all our cities and too frequently in our smaller 
towns and villages, there is a class of children who are 
neglected at home by idle, improvident, ignorant, and 



PHYSICAL TRAINING OF PUPILS. H5 

even vicious parents, whose school is the street and whose 
teachers are of the criminal class. This class of children 
ought to be kept in school as many days in the year and 
as many hours per day as possible. Between these two 
classes— one of which should be kept out of school most 
of the time, and the other kept in school, if possible, all 
their waking hours — there is an almost endless variety, 
for each of which provision should be specifically made, 
were it possible to do so. There is, therefore, nothing 
left us but to meet as far as we can the average condition 
of childhood. But we are compelled to speak not only 
of the average child, but of the average school-room and 
the average teacher. There are school-rooms . . . which 
should lay boards of education liable to indictment for 
maintaining nuisances. . . . There are teachers too . . . 
of unhappy temperament themselves (who) seem to have 
a subtle skill in making everybody about them unhappy. 
... On the other hand, we may imagine school-rooms 
with such surroundings, and under the care of such teach- 
ers, as would make attendance at school a continual 
source at once of delight and profit, to be interrupted 
only that the holy ties of the home might be maintained 
unimpaired. ... As the muscle, bone, and brain, harden 
and strengthen by age and exercise, the hours of confine- 
ment in the school-room may be increased but not propor- 
tionally. It must be remembered that, as self-control 
assumes its sway, continuity and iutensity of application 
increase in greatly accelerated ratio, and that it is true in 
the action of the mind, as in the working of machinery, 
that, as you increase the pressure, the wear and tear in- 
crease in more than a geometrical ratio." * 

* A. J. Rickoff, Proceedings of the National Educational Asso- 
ciation, 1873, p. 241. 



116 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

Two sessions each day — except in high schools of large 
cities where pupils are required to go long distances — are 
without doubt best. Such a division accords with the 
habits of workingmen, in great majority the patrons of 
the schools. The noonday meal is taken at home, and of 
a character best adapted to the health of the child. Be- 
lease from school confinement in the brightest hours of 
the day contributes to health, as it gives opportunity also 
for the renovation of the air of the school-room at a time 
best suited to such a purpose. The question of a briefer 
release into the open air at some time during each daily 
session has aroused discussion. Advocates of shortened 
sessions, with no recess, have gained in numbers. It is to. 
be feared that the interests of teachers have been consid- 
ered rather than those of pupils. The chief arguments 
rest upon exposure of health upon the play-ground, upon 
exposure of moral character to contamination from associ- 
ation with the impure. To the first argument it may be 
objected that exposure of health is not greater than that 
incurred in coming to and going from school ; and that 
continued confinement in the close air of a school-room 
for two and a half hours has a worse effect than a brief 
exposure to fresh air under the active exercise natural to 
children at seasons of play. It is claimed that the same 
end may be attained by throwing open the windows of 
the school-room and engaging the children in some calis- 
thenic exercises at the same time. But, under the most 
favorable conditions for such exercises, the impalpable 
dust of the school-room stirred up by active exercises of 
moving children can not be avoided ; nor will the exer- 
cises themselves prove as serviceable as the self-activity 
which untrammeled play develops. 

Contamination from association with children of im- 
pure lives is far less likely when numbers are upon the 



PHYSICAL TRAINING OF PUPILS. H7 

playground together, than when the personal influence is 
permitted in secret association as will be possible in the 
case of children who find occasion at irregular times to 
absent themselves from the school-room. 

Moral evils spread among pupils by written or printed 
documents or by conversation; both these forms of evil 
covet seclusion. Pupils can spread moral contamination 
with no great effect during school hours when teachers 
supervise in person the play-grounds ; but permit two or 
three at a time to pass from under the eye of the teacher 
and of their fellows, and needed restraints are removed. 
It is true that to the play-ground will be traced outbursts 
of passi6n, differences of opinion, accidents, and the strong 
influences of public opinion of the pupils. All these 
forces are positive among children ; they are the primitive 
embryonic forms of that society in which adult life moves. 
A child that would become a man in society must be 
inured by practice and experience to the forces into 
which his adult life will throw him. 

Dr. J. S. Jewell, of Chicago, who is an authority upon 
nervous diseases, says, " I have no doubt that the proposed 
change of abolishing recesses and of lengthening hours of 
confinement is one every way to be deprecated from the 
standpoint of the bodily health of the pupils." * 

Prof. W. D. Middleton, of the State University of Iowa, 
says : " The recess is an opportunity for the dose of de- 
mocracy, also of fresh air. Of the two evils, I guess the 
democracy is the least, so fancy the recess should stand. 
. . . Two or two and a half hours is too long to expose 
little children to the noxious substances found in breathed- 
over air, for the two reasons that their demands for oxygen 
are immense compared with the adult standard, and their 

* Report of the National Council of Education, 1884, p. 10. 



118 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

capacities for absorption of all noxious substances are 
correspondingly large." * 

Superintendents and teachers are in the large major- 
ity of cases responsible for the abolition of recesses. It 
is fit that those most intimately engaged in the manage- 
ment of schools should lead in matters of reform. But 
abolition of the mid-session recess has not shortened the 
outdoor play of pupils. It has changed its time from 
10.30 A. m. and 2.30 p. m. to 11.30 a. m. and 3.30 p. m. 
in most cases. It has changed its place from the school- 
ground to the street, or, in rare instances, to home play- 
grounds. It has not increased the number of hours given 
to study, but, on the other hand, has materially shortened 
them. It has lengthened the period of confinement to 
the school-room, with increased vitiation of air inhaled. 
It has prolonged the times of close and continued appli- 
cation ; the five-minute intermission given to calisthenic 
exercises is only an extension of close mental application, 
lacking entirely the quality of relaxation which freedom 
of voluntary play upon the school-grounds furnishes. 

The questions which will arise in the mind of the 
superintendent are these : Are conditions favorable to the 
gathering of large numbers of school-children within the 
inclosure of the school-yard ? Are out-buildings of suffi- 
cient size to meet the necessities of many ? Is the neigh- 
borhood one whose street attractions are not harmful? 
Are the children well cared for at home, so that the in- 
creased hours of absence from the school-room will be 
properly spent under parental guidance ? Are the school- 
rooms well ventilated or capable of renewal of air without 
exposure of children to draughts from open windows? 
Can teachers readily supervise the sports of children on 

* Report of the National Council of Education, 1884, p. 10. 



PHYSICAL TRAINING OF PUPILS. H9 

the play-grounds ? Is release from care and responsibility 
the chief element in the teacher's desire for shortened ses- 
sions ? Questions like these must arise, and their solution 
will be found so dependent upon conditions by no means 
uniform that no fixed rule upon the subject of mid-session 
recesses can be formulated. In some communities, under 
most favorable circumstances, school hours may be profit- 
ably shortened; but, for the large majority of children 
attending public schools, shorter sessions of the school 
only furnish the opportunity for longer lessons in the 
street. 

Periods of close mental application must be determined 
in length by the age of the child in large degree. No 
definite rule can be made applicable to all the grades of 
the same school. 

Great stress is laid by adherents to the time-honored 
custom of recesses upon the need of pure air. Ample 
provision for abundant supply in the school-room should 
be the rule. Until late years, however, little attention has 
been given to ventilation of school-houses. It becomes, 
therefore, a prominent part of a superintendent's work in 
behalf of children to note carefully the condition of the 
school-rooms which he enters. The teacher enters the 
room with the pupils, remains with them, and, absorbed 
in his work, becomes unmindful of changes in tempera- 
ture, except as he suffers personal inconvenience ; he fails 
to notice the gradual vitiation of the air. His active 
movements about the school-room keep him comfortable 
in a temperature chilling to the quiet and perhaps too 
thinly-clad pupil. His personal condition may be such 
as to enable him to withstand a degree of heat which has 
flushed the faces of his pupils and has brought lassitude 
or head-throbbing to many a child. He may find himself 
unduly warm, and order the opening of a window without 



120 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

regard to the direction of the wind or to the proximity of 
delicate children suddenly subjected to a stream of cold 
air upon the neck — exposed as it never is when the child 
is in the open air. 

The superintendent, entering the room from the outer 
air, is at once prepared to note the condition of the air as 
to purity. A brief inspection of the faces of teacher and 
pupils will give him some idea of the temperature of the 
room. He will note also the windows or other channels 
for the admission of fresh air and the position of pupils 
with reference thereto. A word to the teacher will save 
the pupil's health, and make him more observant in the 
future. 

As classes appear, the superintendent will be as quick 
to detect nervous excitement, the result of undue pressure 
upon the mind of the child, as to note the listlessness 
arising from a want of proper pressure. 

Physical health is promoted by a proper degree of 
mental activity. Sluggish mental life accompanies a 
physical life weighed down with indolence or with over- 
indulgence of mere animal appetites. A healthful glow 
is seen upon the faces of those whose minds are active, 
and who find pleasure in their activity. The best work 
of the superintendent, with reference to the physical well- 
being of children, will appear in his selection of healthy 
teachers, who exercise common sense in their vocation, 
making the thermometer rather than their feelings the 
test of temperature, and who find in the faces and atti- 
tudes of pupils indications of the condition of the air of 
the room. 

Modern appliances, especially the use of the black- 
board in schools, have rendered it necessary for teachers 
to study the eye-sight of pupils. Children are not always 
conscious of defects in vision. They have never been 



PHYSICAL TRAINING OF PUPILS. 121 

tested, and, of course, are not seated with reference to 
their necessities. In their anxiety to do what is required 
of them as it is presented upon the blackboard, they make 
an abnormal effort to see, and strain the eyes which at- 
tempt to accommodate themselves to the circumstances in 
which they are placed. Failure to see clearly involves 
failure in their work, and consequent degradation in the 
class. 

Blackboards are not always kept clean as they should 
be, and the chalk-covered face reflects light so as to puzzle 
the clearest sight. The light from the windows is not at 
all times of day uniform. Teachers should take position 
in different parts of the school-room while pupils are 
copying from the board or are reading questions thereon, 
that they may be sure of the pupil's ability to see clearly 
from remote parts of the room, with the constant thought 
that the pupil is at a disadvantage, since to him what is 
written is new, while the teacher is perfectly familiar 
with it. 

The eye-sight of pupils has suffered much from care- 
lessness in the use of the blackboard as a chart, from which 
pupils are to read the requirements of the hour. For as- 
signments of tasks the blackboard should be used which 
is upon the side of the room without windows. The writ- 
ing upon the board should be clear and large enough to 
be seen readily by the normal eye from any part of the 
room. Pupils should be seated in the room according to 
the character of their vision. 

The superintendent can not do better than to familiar- 
ize himself with some simple tests of vision, so that he 
can counsel the teacher as to seating pupils. Some special 
cases should be referred to an oculist for the proper ad- 
justment of needed glasses. 

Older pupils are not timid about asking change of 



122 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

seats when they find it difficult to read what is upon the 
board ; but little children often suffer irreparable injury 
through neglect of this -feature of physical education. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

superintendent's relation to moral training. 

No education is complete which does not take within 
its scope man in his entire being, which does not recognize 
and provide for his moral and religious nature. Has man 
such a nature ? If not, it is idle to discuss the need of 
its culture. If he has, it is criminal to ignore it. Nor 
can the State shift the burden of her responsibility upon 
private citizens, so long as she attempts to educate at all, 
without herself becoming amenable to the guilt of neglect. 
State education which leaves untrained any of the forces 
that go to build character will furnish but a poor apology 
for worthy citizenship. The possession of a moral nature 
will not of itself make us better men. Whether we become 
good or unworthy citizens depends upon the choice made 
in the directing of our moral nature. Education deter- 
mines choice. The results of our choice are so far-reach- 
ing that those who shape and direct educational agencies 
have great responsibilities. It is coming to be too much 
the fashion to ignore these responsibilities, and to lay upon 
the family and the Church the entire burden of directing 
moral forces. " The school fills so large a part in the seri- 
ous hours of a child's life that it would be fatal to omit 
from it the all-essential element in character-molding" 
(Bishop J. J. Keane). 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO MORAL TRAINING. 123 

hy should we heed the cry against positive moral 
and religious instruction in schools supported by the State, 
where the life of the citizen receives in an important sense 
its shaping ? The fear of sectarianism in such instruction 
has induced undue caution and a surrender of rights which 
were recognized in the earlier days of the republic. (A 
fuller discussion of this subject may be found in Appen- 
dix A.) 

If the right to give positive moral instruction be de- 
nied, and the child be left to the incidental influences 
which the ordinary routine of a well-ordered school pre- 
sents, still more serious is the responsibility of the super- 
intendent, since these influences flow entirely from the 
life and the conduct of the teacher who at his hands has 
been placed in the position of influence. 

Examination into the character of an applicant for a 
teacher's certificate is of prime importance. The intro- 
duction of an unworthy candidate into the place of influ- 
ence so great as that filled by the teacher rests with crush- 
ing weight upon the negligent superintendent. Continu- 
ance in the place after unworthiness is proved adds to the 
weight of responsibility. The best efforts in the direction 
of ascertaining the moral character of applicants may be 
thwarted. Defects in character are at times artfully con- 
cealed. They will, however, appear at some time. Im- 
mediate annulment of the certificate should follow the 
discovery. The line of influence can not be too quickly 
severed. 

Open immorality is not more to be dreaded than is the 
lack of a positive character in the teacher. The former 
shocks by its boldness and corrects its own influence 
through repulsion ; the latter creates a moral sentiment 
of its own character, and leaves children as indifferent to 
virtue as to vice — characterless. 



124 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

In his rounds of inspection the superintendent must 
pay particular attention to the teacher's observance of the 
rules laid down for the government of pupils. The teach- 
er's punctuality in attendance upon school duties at open- 
ing and closing school and at recesses, his close observance 
of a well-prepared and conspicuously posted programme, 
his scrupulous regard for neatness in person and attire, 
for the cleanliness of the room, for the orderly appearance 
of work upon the blackboards, for the proper disposal of 
outside wraps, for the provision made for the disposal of 
waste paper — above all, for the appearance of the rostrum 
and the table upon it — his courtesy in address, his 
tones of speech, his scrupulous regard for the rights of 
pupils in their relation to himself and to each other, his 
firm but just treatment of offenders against the good order 
of the school, his kindly rebuke, when occasion requires, 
for offenses against morals, his respect for authority higher 
than his own, his uniform self-respect, which brings out 
a gentlemanly deportment on all occasions — these all will 
be observed by the careful superintendent. Kind criticism 
at suitable times will follow any notice of lack in the mat- 
ters suggested. 

The possibility of the teacher thus criticised being 
able to reply, " Physician, heal thyself," will suggest the 
superintendent's prime duty in the line so briefly sketched 
above. 

The most effective moral lessons are given when oc- 
casions arise for the correction of offenders. Overzealous 
teachers may at such times infringe upon the rights of 
the home, of the Church. Overcautious teachers may 
neglect favorable opportunities of building character. 
There is a golden mean. It is the superintendent's prov- 
ince to discover it, and, by restraining the overzealous and 
inspiring the overcautious, to lead his teachers in the 



SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO MORAL TRAINING. 125 

more excellent way. In some instances he will find the 
need of consulting with the parent as well as with the 
teacher, so that a hearty co-operation may be secured. 

In no part of the teacher's work is there greater need 
of allowing freedom of action, the teacher being held re- 
sponsible for abuse of the freedom. Upon the proper use 
of the freedom granted there must be frequent confer- 
ences between superintendent and teacher, the former 
taking the initiative as soon as the suspicion arises in his 
mind of hesitancy in the mind of the latter. 

This may appear to require on the part of the superin- 
tendent an ability to read the thoughts of another — an 
ability not to be questioned, when thoughts come to the 
surface as they will, when timidity appears in the pres- 
ence of some difficulty, or when undue haste characterizes 
the means used for meeting the difficulty. 

Sudden resort to force or to suspension of pupils be- 
trays lack of confidence in ability to control the diso- 
bedient in any other way. Thought here lies upon the 
surface. 

" The schools of the State may not neglect to teach 
public morals. Honesty, reverence, temperance, purity, 
patriotism, justice, mercy, obedience, whatever tends to add 
to the usefulness of the citizen or to the stability of the gov- 
ernment, come within the legitimate exercise of this duty. 
. . . The cultivation of the moral sense leads us to teach 
children obedience to law and reverence for constituted 
authority. ... To live in open disregard of the laws of 
the State is inconsistent with the character of a good 
citizen. . . . Our American education, if it is to retain 
the confidence of the people, must be wholly on the side 
of that morality which has truth for its basis ; it must 
stand for law and order and decency ; its instructors must 
first know, and then practice, and then teach those eternal, 



126 SCHOOL SUPERVISION". 

immutable principles of right and wrong which are the 
foundation of a permanent republican liberty. The pub- 
lic-school system is strong in proportion as it has the con- 
fidence of the people. When it comes to be regarded 
only as a machine for teaching enough of certain branches 
to enable a man to pass muster in the business world ; 
when it does not claim to have any hold beyond material 
and transient things ; when it fails to include in its les- 
sons the binding force of conscience and responsibility, it 
will perish through its own unguided momentum." * 



CHAPTER XY. 

RELATION OF SUPERINTENDENT TO GOVERNMENT AND 
DISCIPLINE OF PUPILS. 

Government and instruction are complementary pro- 
cesses in school-work. They can not be severed. In a 
well-ordered school-room they are closely combined. In- 
struction is successful in the highest degree only when the 
governing ability of the instructor is apparent in every 
recitation. Instruction in classes implies a proper control 
of the members of each class. Government properly ad- 
ministered is in itself a source of instruction as effective as 
the conducting of a recitation in mathematics or history. 
The end of school government is to build up human 
character, "to furnish with requisite outfit or preparation" 
for some specific end. This is one of the primal defini- 



* State Superintendent Henry Sabin, Iowa School Report, 1889, 
p. 119. 



GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF PUPILS. 127 

tions of the word instruct. Manners and morals are cer- 
tainly a worthy end of government as they are of instruc- 
tion. Manners are morals of the lower plane of external 
conduct as morals are manners of the interior life. Dr. 
Philbrick once defined " manners as presenting the spirit 
of a gentleman, and morals as evincing the spirit of re- 
ligion " — manners ending in self-respect which secures the 
respect of others; morals, which in devotion to right 
show an inner life worthy of respect. 

The opportunity for improving the one or the other 
or both is to be found in all school exercises. The ma- 
jority of the studies in a school curriculum furnish mo- 
tives for, their cultivation. 

The superintendent is not engaged directly in either 
instruction or government of a school, but his responsi- 
bility is not lessened, since he holds a more important place 
in the school than does the teacher. To the proper un- 
derstanding of this statement it may be necessary to con- 
sider his peculiar relation. 

The parent's right to govern his child is derived from 
that supreme power which has established the family and 
has thus provided for the child a protector through the 
years of his weakness and a director in the years of his 
ignorance. God's purpose in placing children in the 
family circle is that they may be trained under influences 
which shall develop in them " the spirit of the gentleman " 
as well as " the spirit of religion." Eesponsibility can not 
be ignored. It may be shared. The notion prevalent 
that the teacher stands in loco parentis is not correct 
except under modifications. 

The parent alone has the divine right to control the 
child. A community of parents, studying economy and 
efficiency in methods of advancing the child on the road 
to self-direction and self-support makes use of a civil 



128 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

organism called the State. Machinery is found in opera- 
tion for other purposes, which is easily applied to the 
work of education. Certain rights of the parent, such as 
the right of controlling the time and movements of the 
child for a few hours each day, the right of directing his 
course of study, are surrendered to the civil authorities, 
not permanently nor irredeemably, but at the pleasure of 
the parent. The State then assumes to act for the parent, 
not with the authority which God has conferred upon the 
parent, but with the authority which the parent has trans- 
ferred to the State. The State thus appears to be a human 
institution. It can not assume the responsibility which 
the Divine Creator has laid upon the parent. In a most 
important sense the State can not stand in loco parentis 
so long as the parent lives or is competent to control the 
child. Much less can the State empower any of its ap- 
pointees to take such a place. But, in the absence of the 
parent's power to control the movements of the child 
while the child is under the immediate direction of the 
State's agent, the teacher has a right to take upon himself 
authority in the government and discipline of the child. 
It is a right of human origin, inferior to the parent's 
right, which is of divine origin. Since the teacher under 
the lesser sanction undertakes in matters of discipline to 
do what the parent under the higher sanction may do, it 
is certainly important that the teacher be possessed of 
superior judgment. The State, with its manifold duties, 
can not descend to detailed management in any one class. 
It, therefore, selects agents specially fitted therefor, and 
assigns to them special duties of administration. The 
State's immediate agents in school-work are " Boards of 
Education," varied in number as well as in name, or in 
many cases a single agent called "Superintendent of 
Schools." Boards of education delegate their powers to 



GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF PUPILS. 129 

one officer called secretary or superintendent. Thus 
directly or indirectly does the superintendent become the 
executive officer, under law clothed with all authority 
which has by will of parents been vested in the State. In 
this particular part of his work which pertains to govern- 
ment and discipline of pupils his responsibility is great. 
In an important sense the superintendent is responsible 
for the government and discipline of pupils, inasmuch as 
the direct agents therein, the teachers, are upon his recom- 
mendation in the first instance appointed to their work, 
and thereafter continued in it. 

The preliminary examination has already received suf- 
ficient attention. Young teachers are apt to accept their 
examination as a measure of their responsibility. The 
real test of a teacher's ability is applied in the super- 
visory work of the superintendent rather than in examina- 
tion of candidates for the teacher's office. The teacher's 
disciplinary power will appear in three chief directions — 
correcting disorder which already exists, anticipating and 
preventing disorder, and inducing voluntary obedience. 
To these three points should the superintendent direct 
his attention in his rounds of supervision. In these 
rounds of supervision the superintendent must bear in 
mind that the object of discipline is " to train the chil- 
dren to restrain and direct their own faculties by self- 
conscious effort under the direction of their moral and 
intellectual faculties." 

How shall the superintendent determine whether this 
object of discipline is apprehended by the teacher? His 
first visit can not give him a sufficient basis for such de- 
termination unless he understands fully the general tem- 
per of the pupils who are subjected to a change of teach- 
ers, as well as the reasons for the change. If both teacher 

and pupils are strangers to the superintendent, he can 
10 



130 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

make his first visit an opportunity for fixing a starting- 
point. Conditions may be favorable or unfavorable to the 
teacher. What is observed in this first visit will hardly 
help the superintendent in determining the character of 
these conditions. If he makes a record of his observa- 
tions, a second visit will furnish him some clew to the 
conditions. Following this clew, he soon determines the 
fitness of the teacher in matters of discipline. He will 
soon learn whether the movements of pupils are self-di- 
rected or controlled from without. If satisfied as to the 
first, he will make no further study, but accept the teacher 
as worthy of the place. If convinced that the second is 
true of the school, he will at once set himself to studying 
the means used by the teacher in control of pupils. Here 
he must avoid the danger of hasty judgment. Between 
the extremes of enforced obedience and of disobedience 
left to correct itself — between brutal force and flabby 
goodishness — there is a wide field for the exercise of indi- 
viduality in the teacher. Within this field the teacher 
requires time to adapt himself to the conditions surround- 
ing him. The superintendent, with helpful patience, may 
bring about this adaptation. In his visits he will have 
his eye upon the pupils as well as upon the teacher. If 
pupils appear in unnatural positions, immovable in abso- 
lute uniformity, however admirable the school may ap- 
pear as a tableau, there is certainly no habit of self-direc- 
tion cultivated. If upon entering the room there is 
evident sudden adjustment to a prescribed position, self- 
direction may be assumed, but without the least moral 
element. Deception is practiced as it has been taught. 
If the eyes of pupils appear to be riveted to their books, 
and no recognition is given the entrance of a guest, " the 
spirit of a gentleman " is suppressed ; it may be that the 
ungentlemanly act will crush out " the spirit of religion." 



GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF PUPILS, 131 

If, in the instances cited, the teacher sits back with an 
air of supreme satisfaction in the results of his power to 
discipline pupils, the superintendent will do well to study 
carefully the methods pursued. He will not wait long for 
some elucidation of these methods. Kesults are not con- 
sonant with the nature of the average child. Nature will 
assert itself. By directing his attention to the bearing of 
the pupils toward the teacher outside the school-room or 
during the partial release from control which the recess 
furnishes, the superintendent will not long remain in 
doubt as to the lack of voluntary obedience — the highest 
aim of all discipline. Too great rigidity of muscle in the 
schoolroom is sure to result in frigidity of affection for 
the teacher. The opposite extreme is not less faulty, but, 
as it has not even the semblance of discipline, it needs no 
consideration. The fault of the first leans to virtue's 
side, and, properly tempered, may be very successful in 
wise discipline. The fault of the other extreme has not 
in it the first element of success. 

Methods of discipline may be as mechanical as are 
methods of instruction. Pupils may be arranged in their 
seats in such order as to please the eye of a spectator. 
The position of each pupil in his seat may be in form 
and uniform. Each sits, turns, rises, moves, just as he is 
required to do. Sometimes even the lock-step used in 
prison discipline is required, so that no pupil may get out 
of order in ranks. At study, the eye must be kept at a 
uniform distance from the book, no matter what the con- 
dition of the eye. Eegularity of movement is desirable. 
The tendency of the pupil to get too near his book, and 
thus induce short-sight, should be corrected with special 
understanding of the condition of the eyes of each pupil. 
The necessity for frequent changes of position on the part 
of children should be recognized. Absolute immobility 



^32 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

of the teacher for the length of time it is required of 
pupils will put a little solid common sense into methods 
of government. 

The opposite extreme of entire carelessness and indif- 
ference to the positions and movements of pupils is not 
less to be deprecated. There are external conditions 
which may diminish the danger of great rigidity, and, on 
the other hand, relieve unusual restlessness. Seats and 
desks are the chief of these external conditions. The cus- 
tom of seating a room with one pattern of desk and seat 
would not be objectionable if physical structure were 
always in exact accordance with the stages of mental 
progress. 

The superintendent's eye will soon detect the torture- 
boxes in a room, and provide for their removal or ex- 
change. The room may not appear as well when empty, 
but it will certainly be better in every respect for the 
pupils who fill it. ' The irregularities in size of desk need 
be only in height and very few in number where there 
are many pupils of the same grade. But internal condi- 
tions have much to do with good order. None is of 
greater importance than the spirit which animates the 
teacher. The superintendent who feels disorder, even 
though its outer manifestation be suppressed, will study 
the face of the teacher, will note his movements, his tone 
of voice. He will look also at the eyes of the pupils, 
which will soon betray the thoughts cherished. He need 
not be long in doubt as to whether love or will is at the 
helm, whether brute force or moral force is dominant. 

In his corps of teachers he will find some who sway 
through fear, others whose control is through a morbid 
sensitiveness on the part of pupils. The first are obeyed, 
lest pupils suffer ; the last are obeyed, lest the pupils 
cause the teacher to suffer. The first cultivate a slavish 



GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF PUPILS. 133 

dread in pupils ; the last encourage a morbid goodishness. 
Neither develops in the child the habit of self-activity. 
The methods of the first strengthen the pre-existent habit 
and bring out good results for the few, while the many 
are cowed into submission, and go through the world with 
broken wills. The methods of the last leave the moral 
organism flabby and cartilaginous. Severity and good- 
ness may be combined in a discipline of pupils. To this 
work of combination the superintendent will find frequent 
occasion to address himself. No part of his work will 
prove more troublesome. If he discourages the use of the 
rod, he will find more objectionable instruments of bodily 
punishment employed. 

If he permits and advises the use of the rod, it will 
be wielded too vigorously, and with no beneficial results. 

If he enjoins upon some special teacher the exercise of 
this right for the whole school, the whipping-post will be 
firmly planted and frequently used. 

Upon this question of corporal punishment there is set 
the mark of public disapproval. Legislative action in some 
cases, resolutions of Boards of Education in others, wholly 
prohibiting its use, have been unwisely taken. Teachers 
should be left discretion in this matter of discipline, and, 
if they will found their discretionary acts upon a reason- 
able study of child-nature, the rod will disappear with all 
its miserable substitutes, which spring into use under pro- 
hibitory statutes. If the time that is spent in detention 
of pupils after school were given to earnest study of child- 
life, the knowledge thus gained would banish the rod from 
the schools. If the time spent in devising some means of 
punishment for offenses were devoted to learning the best 
way of anticipating and then guarding against offenses, 
we should hear nothing more of the barbarism of corporal 
punishment. The superintendent may find here the very 



134 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

best field for his labors. Experience has shown that the 
rod may be laid aside by the teacher, with all its degrading 
substitutes, and also detentions out of school hours be 
abandoned, and still the list of suspensions for miscon- 
duct be diminished, and a better spirit prevail throughout 
the entire school. 

A middle-aged man once said to the teacher of his 
younger days, "Do you recall punishing me severely 
upon one occasion ? " " No," replied the teacher, " you 
know well that I never inflicted chastisement upon you, for 
such a course was contrary to my practice." " It is true, 
nevertheless," was the reply, " for, upon commission of an 
offense against good order, you told me you would take a 
week to consider what it were best to do." " And then I 
punished you.? " " No, for you said at the end of the 
week, ' I think, from what I have seen of you during the 
week, that your punishment has been sufficient for all 
practical purposes, and we will start anew as if nothing 
had happened.' You were right in your thought, for the 
week of delay was to me a continued punishment." 

A young man was found in the principal's office of a 
large school awaiting the coming of the principal, under 
the order of a lady teacher whom he had grossly offended. 
His offense was such as would most certainly have secured 
his suspension and reference to the superintendent. The 
superintendent came into the office, learned the cause of 
the young man's being found there, met the principal, and 
asked him to say nothing to the pupil. Two or three 
times during the morning the superintendent looked into 
the office, expressing his surprise that the young man still 
sat there. As the school was dismissed at noon, he was 
told that he might remain there during the intermission, 
as he would not be disturbed in his meditations. No re- 
straint was placed upon him. In a half-hour more the 



GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF PUPILS. 135 

office was found deserted. The young man had gone 
home to his dinner. But stronger than his appetite was 
his sense of wrong, and before leaving he had sought his 
teacher, made confession of his wrong, and had been for- 
given. No allusion was ever made to the matter afterward, 
and his subsequent career proved that he then learned a 
lesson in self -direction which was worth more to him than 
the lessons he missed that forenoon. Self-respect grew 
in him, as what he did was entirely self-directed. 

A lad of unfortunate home influences had reached 
that stage of incorrigibility which made his expulsion 
from the school by the Board of Education a necessity. 
He would submit to no authority. The superintendent of 
schools, meeting him in the street, in a kindly way in- 
quired what he was doing and what was his strongest 
wish. A tear started to his eye as he said, " I wish I were 
in school again." The superintendent replied : " Go get 
your books and return. I can not restore you, nor can the 
principal receive you as a pupil, but perhaps he will let 
you in as a visitor for a little while until you show that 
you can control yourself." Before he could reach the 
school-building the superintendent had seen the principal, 
secured his consent to the plan, and had asked him to 
send to the superintendent at night a note by the boy 
touching his conduct as a visitor. The boy came with a 
favorable note, was returned for two days, and then his 
conduct was so commended that his probation was length- 
ened for a week. At the end of the week the report was 
so good regarding his deportment that he was told to 
carry that note with him for his inspection whenever he 
found himself tempted to disobedience, and to remain in 
school without further limit. A few years later he was 
found in the high school, a right manly young man, studi- 
ous and respected by his teachers. 



136 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

(Appendix B gives a fuller elucidation of the matters 
which have been presented in the illustrations given 
above.) 

Self-activity on moral lines should be the aim of all 
attempts at discipline. Corporal punishment rarely, if 
ever, cultivates self-activity. The moral nature is reached 
through moral influences. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SUPERINTENDENT'S RELATION TO THE BOARD OF EDU- 
CATION. 

In an important sense the superintendent and the 
Board of Education have distinct fields of labor : the one 
oversees the work of instruction, the other plans for ad- 
ministration of a school system, and provides for its ma- 
terial needs ; the one deals with the teachers whom the other 
has employed ; the one selects and recommends laborers 
for service in the field which the other has appropriated for 
special cultivation ; the one spends the entire time in the 
field, the other sometimes makes brief calls upon the labor- 
ers individually or in a body when some fruits of labor 
are displayed ; the one chooses the machinery which the 
other purchases and keeps in repair. The superintendent 
becomes the executive officer of the board in their part of 
administration. 

It is often the custom to make the superintendent the 
secretary of the board as a matter of convenience, but in 
such cases he acts in a dual capacity. When this is fully 
recognized, his freedom in the line of his special work 



SUPERINTENDENT AND THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 137 

will also be recognized. Keleased from mechanical de- 
tails, he will have less of the machine in the work of 
instruction. His own freedom from unprofessional re- 
straint will indicate to him the propriety of granting to 
teachers a larger measure of freedom. 

By virtue of his special studies and professional train- 
ing, he is qualified to give advice in all matters concern- 
ing teachers, courses of study, programmes, and the in- 
ternal management of the schools. In the process of evo- 
lution of the superintendency there has come into the 
superintendent's work more of instruction — less of con- 
struction of buildings, less of financial management, less 
of concern about material appliances. 

"The common-school superintendency has with us 
passed through two distinct phases of development and 
is now on the threshold of the third. The two phases it 
has passed through were preliminary ; that upon which it 
is now entering will prove final. I would designate the 
two phases of the past as the first or material, and the 
second as the intermediate or the pseudo-intellectual 
phase — the coming phase I shall call the scientific. . . . 
Naturally, the material was the earliest stage. The crying 
need of the common school thirty or forty years ago was 
a material one, and the possibilities of the situation were 
not appreciated. The school-house, the window, the out- 
house, the desk, the map, the slate, and the text-book, 
stood in pressing need of intelligent reforming. The 
low, dark, ill- ventilated, dirty room, with its long rows of 
benches and continuous desks, hacked and disfigured by 
the jackknives of successive generations, had slowly to 
give place to something better. One thing at a time, and 
this was the first move of the superintendency. It was a 
necessary rather than a great work. The office, also, was 
a new one, and those who filled it were in no way specially 



138 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

trained for it. They were looked upon with suspicion by 
the school committees, and there was a general disposition 
to make them as nearly as possible mere purchasing 
agents and superintendents of repairs. 

" Perhaps the two great monuments of this earlier 
period are the four-square school-house and the separate 
desk. They are good monuments, too. But it is not 
necessary to spend much time over this earlier phase. 
It speaks for itself. Even those solely identified with it 
will not claim that the work was more than preliminary. 
. . . Those who introduced cleanliness, light, and order 
into the beastly old common school, deserved well of their 
successors. The material requirements of the schools be- 
ing in a measure provided for, the next work naturally 
enough related to education proper. I have designated 
this second period as the pseudo-intellectual, because, in 
its broad features and general results, ... it would seem 
to cover a time during which an intellectual subject was 
mechanically dealt with. ... So far as organization was 
concerned, the work was most thoroughly done. . . . The 
importance of this instinctive, organizing faculty can not 
be overestimated. It also means, however, the constant 
tendency toward the uniform and the mechanical — to 
what is known in politics as ' the machine.' . . . There 
was very little that deserved to be called scientific about 
it. . . . The work of organization being completed, the 
mechanical in studies was, in short, overdone."* 

Mr. Adams's criticism of the second phase in the evolu- 
tion of superintendency, though severe, has certainly some 
foundation. 

The third phase implies more of a professional prepa- 

* Charles Francis Adams, Jr., address before the National Edu- 
cational Association at Chautauqua, 1880. 



SUPERINTENDENT AND THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 139 

ration for the work. Universities and colleges recognize 
the need of such professional training, and they are estab- 
lishing chairs of pedagogy. This phase implies less devo- 
tion to purely material appliances. The best superintend- 
ent is, therefore, less and less prepared for financial man- 
agement, as his thought is necessarily absorbed in the 
special work of instruction. It is but another step in 
specialization of labor. The Board of Education will see 
the wisdom of leaving instruction entirely to the hands of 
their chosen superintendent, and to relieve him more and 
more from business details. Not only has the process of 
development released the superintendent from the neces- 
sity of giving attention to the construction of buildings, but 
the construction of " courses of study " has also reached 
its limits. All these material appliances have undergone 
complete transformation within the past thirty years. 
Their acceptance is only a matter of form for the Board 
of Education. The advice of superintendents is no longer 
essential except in the way of simplification. This feature 
of administration has long enough claimed the place of mas- 
ter. It is time that it be made the servant : it should be a 
servant whose work should be closely criticised, and modi- 
fied as occasion requires. This servant, for a long time pre- 
suming upon the place which the obsequious superintend- 
ent has encouraged it to claim, must under the new phase 
accept cheerfully the subordinate place. The superin- 
tendent, freed from thralldom, will have time to devote 
himself to more important work. The servant will stay, 
but the general character of its service is so well estab- 
lished, and so universally accepted, that the course of 
study need occupy but little time of either board or sup- 
erintendent. 

Acceptance of these views will show that relations of 
superintendent and board are co-ordinate in very large 



140 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

measure. Each has its distinct province, not independent, 
but complementary. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

superintendent's relation to agencies for 
improvement of teachers. 

Two serious difficulties stand in the way of the success 
of public schools of the United States : 

1. The large proportion of inexperienced teachers em- 
ployed. 

2. The lack of professional spirit, and consequent me- 
chanical methods in teaching. 

1. Rapid increase in population makes the employ- 
ment of new teachers a necessity. The still more rapid 
growth in the use of the public school as an agency in 
education makes this necessity greater. Within the last 
decade population has increased twenty-five per cent, 
school attendance twenty-six per cent. This increase 
requires an average addition of nearly six thousand teach- 
ers annually — two per cent of the entire corps. This in- 
fusion would hardly be noticed if the main body remained 
unchanged. Statistics, however, show that twenty per 
cent of the body is removed each year by resignation or 
otherwise. Twenty-two per cent of new material will 
give a decided coloring to the mass. It becomes a serious 
question with superintendents of all grades, " Where can 
this inexperience be placed with least detriment to the 
schools ? " To superintendents of rural districts the ques- 
tion will prove unanswerable. 



AGENCIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS. 141 

To city superintendents there comes the opportunity 
for a successful answer if they have the wisdom to guide 
them in preparing the fit place for the new teacher by 
making such changes as are possible within the corps. 
This requires much tact and often considerable nerve. 
Inexperience is sometimes so crass as to leave the super- 
intendent no choice as to the place upon which it shall 
fall. Patient helpfulness may bring in the light and 
change after first assignment may reduce the evil. 

2. The large majority of teachers in the United States 
being of the sex that honors itself by assuming the posi- 
tion of wifehood and motherhood when a favorable oppor- 
tunity is, presented, it will be found next to impossible to 
awaken in the entire corps of teachers a pure professional 
spirit. Their school-teaching is but a temporary matter. A 
few years .ago an estimate made in one of our most pro- 
gressive cities proved the average term of service to be but 
little more than three years, though in a few instances 
more than a score of years marked the period of service. 
With woman's determination to make herself independ- 
ent, and with the better opportunities opened to her for 
higher positions and for equal pay with men who render 
similar service, there is a growing purpose to make teach- 
ing a life-work. This purpose it is within the power 
of the superintendent to foster. He must meet the old 
theory that " competition determines wages " with the 
newer theory that salary is attached to place and not to 
person, and when places are vacant the most competent 
persons available should be called to fill them, without 
regard to sex. 

In the two features sketched above the United States 
are in an unfavorable conditio i for comparison with some 
European states which are just now held up before us to 
our discredit. When the same stability of population 



142 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

shall appear in America as upon the Continent of Europe, 
we shall find ourselves freed from the constant pressure 
for more school-houses and more teachers, and shall have 
time for the improvement of what we have. 

Our political conditions demand of us material but 
poorly prepared for civil service ; our rapidly growing in- 
dustries can not wait for fully educated laborers. In the 
rush to supply the demand, more has been thought of 
apparent than of real preparation. Our school- work has 
been superficial, unsubstantial, as are all the structures 
first erected in a new and rapidly growing country. 

In our haste the materials have not been properly 
scanned. The eager theorist has found a more ready ear 
than the practical philosopher. In " rotation in office " 
we have found the opportunity for changing theorists, 
who serve long enough to see the fallacy of their theories, 
but not long enough to make the needed correction. 

Superintendents are representatives of the current 
thought. If they attempt to lead, they acquire strength 
to do so just as " rotation in office " invites them to use 
that strength in some other field. 

But discussion of facts will not change conditions at 
once — will not lead directly to the cure of errors. 

How can superintendents gradually change the con- 
ditions, indirectly cure errors ? They can not check rapid 
growth in population; they can not increase the number 
of experienced teachers. Their work lies in the direction 
of substituting for practical experience an inexperience 
grounded upon some better theories than have yet pre- 
vailed — an inexperience coupled with better information, 
with loftier purpose, and with some degree of professional 
zeal. 

1. Professional schools for teachers are as necessary as 
for physicians, lawyers, and clergymen. Germany, whose 



AGENCIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS. 143 

schools are held up to us as models of efficiency, makes 
much of her normal schools. 

Horace Mann, the leader of educational thought a gen- 
eration ago in Massachusetts, considered normal schools 
the fountain-head of educational forces. In the normal 
schools established as the result of his wise administra- 
tion the public-school system of Massachusetts is strongly 
intrenched. They are repositories of educational history, 
educational philosophy, and of the psychology of child- 
life. They have gathered from the Old World accepted 
and approved theories which they adapt to the conditions 
of the New World. Their teachers have had long and 
successful practice in their profession. Their students are 
brought face to face with the probabilities of the school- 
room, and are taught the methods of meeting probable 
difficulties in instruction and in discipline. They some- 
times have brief opportunities for trial in the school-room 
under the eye of an expert critic. 

The conditions of this trial seldom find their parallel 
in the school-room to which these " pupil teachers " are 
introduced after graduation, but conditions are in a meas- 
ure similar, and the inexperienced ones feel less timidity 
after the " practice " they have had. The " State Super- 
intendent" will not fail to urge the establishment and 
improvement of " State Normal Schools " in number suf- 
ficient for the training of all who desire to make a pro- 
fession of teaching. Through no other agency can he so 
readily infuse life into the schools of his State. Side by 
side with normal schools he will place those colleges and 
universities which provide a course in pedagogics as part 
of a liberal education. State recognition of normal-school 
diplomas, and of college and university certificates of pro- 
ficiency in pedagogics (especially when accompanied by 
diplomas of graduation) will induce many teachers to 



14:4: SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

seek such diplomas or certificates. Here may be laid the 
foundation for teaching as one of "the learned profes- 
sions." " Normal schools are an organic part of the mod- 
ern system of popular education for the perfection of all 
its departments. They are the coadjutors of the district 
officer, county superintendent, and State Superintendent. 
They are established as a signal service in every quarter 
of the educational horizon, to report currents and to give 
warnings of danger. They are the pledged enemy of 
every educational heresy in government or instruction, 
the advocates and friends of honest work. 

"The university professor may have his chair, and 
from it satisfy a well-established demand ; but the nor- 
mal-school professor must live in his saddle in the field 
and on the march. 

" The demand laid upon normal schools is that they 
comprehend the best scholarship, the most advanced 
thought upon the philosophy of teaching, with not only 
the history of pedagogics of the past, but its problems of 
the present in process of solution, aggressive and loyal to 
the best interests of the people." * 

The county superintendent may do efficient work in 
the support of normal schools by recognizing their diplo- 
mas in his examination of teachers, by encouraging prom- 
ising youth in their attendance, by availing himself in 
county institutes of the service of normal-school teachers. 
In some States, as in Wisconsin, each normal school has 
one teacher who is specially qualified for the management 
of county institutes, and whose time is largely devoted to 
this kind of field-work. The county superintendent may 
be still more effective if himself a graduate of some nor- 

* D. L. Kiehle, Superintendent of Public Instruction for Minne- 
sota, Education, vol. iii, p. 433. 



AGENCIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS. 145 

mal school. His work will so commend itself to public 
approval that electors will come to regard normal training 
as an essential qualification for a candidate for the office. 

In every State where a normal school is established the 
county superintendent may, at least, secure a graduate as 
an assistant in normal institutes. If any State is so un- 
fortunate as to be without a normal school, there is no tax 
upon importation of good material out of which to make 
institute conductors, until such time as home manufact- 
ures are brought into the market. 

The city superintendent has better opportunity to ren- 
der effective aid to the normal school than the county su- 
perintendent, since the places at his command are far less 
numerous than the applicants. Many cities have " train- 
ing-schools for teachers," and supply their needs largely 
therefrom. These are normal schools of limited range 
with one purpose in view — the preparation of those who 
are considered as of right entitled to vacant places in the 
ranks of teachers. Eight at this point there is danger. 
The graduates of a city training-school are those who have 
had their education entirely in the schools they hope to 
enter as teachers. The peculiar features of the schools of 
the city are thus perpetuated. Old errors live, with a little 
polish which gives them the appearance of youth. Blood 
grows too thin for vigorous life. Transfusion is the rem- 
edy. Care must be taken that transfusion comes from a 
body which has been differently fed, and whose blood con- 
tains elements not found in that of the patient. The new 
element need not be proportionally large, but of such 
prominence in its manifestation that the old takes note 
of and inwardly digests the new ideas. New comers are 
generally experienced teachers. If to their experience can 
be added a proper normal training, the city superintend- 
ent may rely upon improvement in the work done — an 
11 



146 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

improvement which will help lift his school machinery 
out of the well-worn ruts to the greater freedom of a well- 
kept highway. There are normal schools and normal 
schools. This fact needs to be recognized, lest cut-and- 
dried "methods," so called, prove a burden which will only 
deepen the ruts, or break the machinery when an attempt 
is made to extricate it. 

2. All superintendents may make use of another agency 
for improvement of teachers — that of "associations" or 
" teachers' meetings." Into city and county associations 
all teachers may be brought. They will profit by discussion 
of matters which come into their every-day work. Seed- 
thoughts are sown — in some soil they will germinate — 
fruit will be abundant or scarce, according, to the quality 
of the soil ; but some fruit everywhere, or at least a little 
effort at fruit, though only green stalks and leaves appear. 

These associations properly conducted will not make 
over inefficient teachers at once, but they will make all 
who attend them less inefficient, as the quickening of a 
new thought gives them courage to modify their old meth- 
ods, or to break up the habit of mechanically following 
the methods used by others. They may be made to in- 
spire the copyist with the determination to put more of 
himself into his work. They will acquaint all with the 
successes or failures of each, and through known success 
show the way to overcome failure. To all who take part 
in these meetings there comes an earnest purpose to 
prove their theories of practical application. Self-hood 
is strengthened, not in the line of enlarged idiosyncra- 
sies, which makes the teacher a " crank," but in the 
line of pruning until the interior life shall manifest 
itself equally in all parts of the being in harmony and 
in strength. 

State associations are usually less generally attended ; 



AGENCIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS. 147 

but the leaders are there, and their deliberations are made 
available to all through the agency of the press. 

Superintendents who control the employment of teach- 
ers should by all means insist upon every teacher subscrib- 
ing for, paying for, and reading one good periodical de- 
voted to his calling. There is no better agency for the 
improvement of teachers than the regular visits of an 
issue from the press which comes laden with the best 
thoughts of the best thinkers put into the best form. In 
no other way can the teacher so easily keep abreast of the 
times. 

But one who reads only that which savors of the shop, 
and confines himself solely to educational literature, will 
find himself abreast of the times, but miserably ignorant 
of what is in the times worth his knowing, and of that 
which will reward him for the effort he makes to keep 
abreast. It is impossible for any one in these days to 
know all that is in the times, but some one line of study 
will keep him inside and under their potent influence. 

The superintendent will, therefore, encourage in all 
ways a line of study outside of the routine of school- 
work. In these latter days organizations for such study 
are abundant. " Teachers' reading circles " are estab- 
lished in some States. " Chautauqua Literary and Sci- 
entific Societies " are found everywhere. " Magazine 
clubs," "book clubs," "history clubs," "art clubs," for 
winter helps, and then the opportunities for vacation 
study in the " summer schools " in science, in literature, 
in language, etc., leave no excuse for the cobwebs and 
dust of the school-room which obscure so many minds. 
The polish of " vacation trips " abroad is within the means 
of many. 

Example as well as precept will prove a force uplifting 
till the horizon is extended and the chains are broken 



148 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

which have attached the teacher to a machine that grinds 
out pupils to the requisite " percentage " of fineness. 

The " freedom of- the teacher " will be perfect when 
superintendents shall have persuaded each to some per- 
sistent use of the various agencies sketched above. 



APPENDIX A. 



RELATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO MORALITY 
AND RELIGION* 

Two facts are in such general accord with human experience 
and so confront human observation as to challenge denial. They 
are undisputed because they are indisputable. The first fact is : 
Man passes judgment upon the voluntary acts of his fellow-man, 
more or less decided in proportion as he becomes personally 
affected by the acts criticised. The estimate he puts upon the 
character of his neighbor is the average of these judgments. 
Each man becomes to the mind of the other truthful, generous, 
upright, honorable, false, parsimonious, tricky, treacherous, just 
as his outward acts, which are accepted as the expression of his 
inner life, interpret him. A line is drawn upon one or the other 
side of which each man's judgment places all his acquaintances. 
This discriminating faculty argues the existence of the moral 
sense. It takes cognizance of morals either upon the lower plane 
of man's conduct toward his fellows or upon the higher plane of 
man's relation to his God. The first fact restated in another form 
is : Every man possesses a moral sense, and is sure to exercise it 
at least in his judgment of others. 

The second fact is : All men are subjects of moral influence. 
It may reach only the outer act, or it may extend to the inner 
spring of action. It may affect only manners, or it may extend 

* This essay was prepared for and published in " Education," May, 
1883, and is by permission republished here. 



150 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

to morals. Both are parts of the same whole : the one the dress, 
the expression ; the other the life, the thing expressed. 

That man lives not for himself alone is not with him a matter 
of choice, but of necessity. He is not alone susceptible to influ- 
ence from others. The unconscious exercise of this power is a 
fact beyond question. The effort to restrain it only strengthens 
it. Let a man purposely step aside from the ordinary course of 
human life, and a peculiar fascination attends him and increases 
his influence. In a crowded street let one stop absorbed in 
thought and gaze abstractedly outward or upward. At once 
many a passer will stop and peer into space. Even he who dis- 
dains the thought of being under the influence of another hesi- 
tates or in his resolution nervously quickens his pace. His falt- 
ering or his hurrying betrays him. No man lives who does not 
owe his habits of bodily movements, of phrased speech, to a 
greater or less degree, to those with whom he has been in con- 
tact. The choice of an occupation is often predetermined by 
the silent influence of some friend, whose life has spoken, though 
his tongue has been speechless. 

The character is built of material which has been silently and 
secretly dropped by the way, as well as of that which has been 
purchased and delivered. Thus in our manners, which are the 
morals of the lower plane, and in our characters, which are the 
morals of the upper plane, we are objective recipients and sub- 
jective factors. The question is not whether or not we shall 
have any education in morals, but it is, What shall be its char- 
acter ? We can not destroy our moral influence, but we can de- 
termine its character. We can not shield our children against 
either the patent or the latent influence of their associates, but 
we may determine in some degree, at least, the character of those 
into whose presence they are brought. 

Turning now from these considerations, which pertain to our 
personality, let us think of the organization of such individuals as 
bearing upon the direction of influence, the culture of the moral 
sense. Three prominent organizations seem to have divine sanc- 
tion — the home, the Church, the State. These are independent 
and, at the same time, interdependent. Each has its place, dis- 
tinct from the others, but allied in such a manner as to render 



APPENDIX A. 151 

their severance positively injurious to human interests as pre- 
sented in God's plans for their advancement. With but one of 
these organizations is this essay concerned, except in this in- 
direct way of allied interests. And with the State only in its 
educational work have I to deal. 

John Stuart Mill defines the province of government ' ' to in- 
crease to the utmost the pleasures and to diminish to the utmost 
the pains which men derive from each other." Horace Mann has 
well said : "All the powers of the mightiest nation can never 
prevent bad men from doing wrong. The only way to diminish 
the amount of wrong in the world is to diminish the number of 
bad men." 

The State is not organized, as some assert, as an immense 
police force for the detection and punishment of criminals, but 
it has the higher mission of prevention. A citizen kept from 
becoming a bad man is worth far more than a citizen reformed. 
The demand of the State is for virtuous as well as for intelligent 
citizens. All occasion for arguing the need of virtue as funda- 
mental to the State is removed by a glance at legislation from 
the earliest time to the present day. It takes shape in enact- 
ments, which foster homes, the best soil out of which springs 
virtuous living ; which favor churches, designed for the molding 
and perfecting of character ; which establish schools, having for 
their object the development of a complete manhood. Under- 
standing well the necessity of supplementing the work of the 
inefficient home, of the limited church, of private enterprise 
beyond the reach of many citizens, the State has undertaken to 
support at public expense a system of schools suited to her needs, 
and limited only by the principle underlying her organization. 
In discussing this subject, it is quite popular to say the State 
has no right to provide for the support of any other than secular 
institutions. There are still such officers of the Church as are 
styled secular priests. Religious organizations care for temporal 
interests. They separate them from the distinctively spiritual 
concerns of the Church. Accepting this separation, it by no 
means follows that all motives to virtuous conduct, to right liv- 
ing, are to be taken out of the one class of duties and assigned 
solely to the other. Is not a moral life essential to happiness, 



152 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

even though no thought be sent outside the limits of this life, 
beyond the confines of this world ? Let the State concern her- 
self with the affairs of this life and of this world — the sphere of 
her actions. She can not do otherwise, so far as positive enact- 
ments are concerned, without violation of the principle upon 
which the American State is founded. But without a "State 
church " she may, as she does, foster Churches within the State, 
because of their helpfulness in the production of virtuous citizen- 
ship, which is essential to the State in her secular capacity. Our 
earliest lawgivers and our wisest statesmen have ever made virtue 
as prominent as intelligence in the legislation which has looked 
to the perpetuity of the State. Many filled with sectarian preju- 
dice or partisan bias will assent to nothing which conflicts with 
their particular views of ecclesiastical or civil polity. They are 
right. But is there not for their particular views a common 
foundation ? Enactments which have stood the test of two cent- 
uries and more, and which to-day are accepted by all wise men, 
witness to common ground. 

The peculiar features of the early educational enactments 
have reappeared as new States have arisen, and to-day not one is 
found which ignores the necessity of good moral character as a 
prerequisite to a teacher's license. The law not alone recognizes 
the right of the State to demand moral qualifications in the 
teacher, but it enforces the duty of exercising this right most 
zealously. But, law aside, in determining the qualifications of 
a teacher of youth there are certain conditions which every man 
in a civilized community would affix. These may be briefly 
stated as follows : There must be no disregard of the religious 
observances of his patrons, as shown in critical words, disturb- 
ing acts, sneering allusions, or slighting mockery ; no want of 
respect for those who had nurtured him in helplessness ; no 
profane swearing ; no uncontrollable temper endangering the 
bodily comfort and life of pupils ; no unchaste life, nor even 
its outward symbol, unchaste language ; no untruthfulness ; 
no slanderous tongue ; no covetous spirit shown in stealthy ac- 
quisition of the property of others. 

Any one of these would, in the estimation of every reasonable 
man, be a marked disqualification for the office of teacher. No 



APPENDIX A. 153 

man lives who would not brand with infamy the authorities who 
would knowingly place in the teacher's chair one thus disqualified. 
From so corrupt a fountain no healthy influence could flow. 
Upon this one point at least all can agree. Will any man recall 
his verdict of condemnation, if upon examination he shall find 
that all the specifications recited above are but repetition of the 
"Mosaic law"? Are the vices condemned any the less odious 
because forbidden in the revelation God makes of himself in the 
Bible ? Are the opposite virtues less to be desired because the 
Bible enforces their practice ? Why need we be so particular 
about the character of our teachers, if that character is to have no 
weight in the instruction of our children ? No extent of intel- 
lectual culture, no accomplishment however dazzling, can atone 
for the lack of a virtuous life. Kecurring to one of the principles 
stated at the outset, we must admit that it is the real teacher-life 
which takes hold of the child life. The outer adornment opens 
. the channel to the child's soul. It is quite certain that he, who 
so persistently urges the possession of a good moral character as 
requisite to the teacher, will not forbid its silent influence at least 
upon the taught. But let us consider the particular manifesta- 
tions of this life in the teacher. He will impress the importance 
of the work of the school-room by his own devotion to the work. 
Under the influence of his spirit of whole-hearted devotion, his 
pupil's work assumes vast importance. It can not be neglected 
nor indifferently done without violence to his moral sense. The 
spirit of work pervades the place, and the best effort of the teacher 
insures a corresponding effort on the part of his pupil. Obedi- 
ence to law is another element of a virtuous life. He is best 
fitted to command who has learned to obey. The requirements 
of the schools are as essential to the teacher as to the pupil. A 
regular programme faithfully followed ; scrupulous attention to 
habits of punctuality, of neatness of person and attire, of care of 
desk or table ; quiet and courteous demeanor ; recognition of the 
rights of others even if they be inferiors ; respect for those in 
authority shown in language and in deportment — these all deter- 
mine the extent of a teacher's influence and serve as a true index 
to his character ; these far outweigh his words of caution or re- 
proof. 



154 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

Again, it is not within the range of possibility for a teacher, 
who indulges in practices that need concealment or apology or 
explanation even, to elude the watchful eye of some or of all his 
pupils. No promise, however trivial it may seem to the teacher, 
is trivial to the child. A forgotten promise, a hasty word, a wrong 
judgment, are possible to human error, but known and not con- 
fessed they leave a scar upon the child's character, or they create 
distrust which hardens the mind against better impressions. An 
apology to a child gives the heart of the child to the teacher, and 
makes certain a more considerate conduct on his part toward his 
fellows. Not to take up more time with details, devotion to 
duty, obedience to law, consistency of conduct, and an unselfish 
seeking of the general good, are certainly essentials of citizenship, 
and should be prominent in our schools if we would have them 
appear in the nation's life. 

Thus far in the discussion I have brought forward only what 
legislation has enforced by its sanctions — legislation which has 
stood the test of practical experiment under the scrutiny of men 
of all shades of religious belief and of political preferences. I 
have adduced but one channel through which compliance with 
legislative requirements may be obtained, the silent channel of 
the teacher's influence. Thus far we are permitted to go without 
a word of dissent. Denied this channel, the public school has no 
right to exist ; for thus it must utterly fail in the development of 
virtuous character, more essential to American citizenship than 
mere brain-culture. A mental giant destitute of moral priuciple 
becomes the bane of the State. His power to do evil unre- 
strained by his own convictions of right is exercised to the sub- 
version of the State, or to its prostitution to the service of his 
own base ends. The State must for its own preservation see to it 
that her legislation, designed to secure the influence of a virtuous 
life in the teacher, fails not of its purpose. No State is so 
suicidal in its acts as to demand a virtuous teacher, and then 
forbid the exercise of the influence sought. 

But there are other silent factors in the building of character. 
They are the books read and the associates sought by the child. 
The ability to read, cultivated properly in the public school, 
arouses the thirst for acquisition by reading. To sate this thirst, 



APPENDIX A. 155 

resort is had to the nearest springs. These are often poisoned 
springs. The child may not detect them in his thirst. Shall 
the teacher be denied the right of caution, of positive advice 
even, when he knows the danger before the pupil ? 

The State orders the purchase of libraries. Stringent laws 
are passed and enforced against the publication and the sale of 
obscene literature. Many books not under the ban of the law are 
corrupt in tendency, and their general reading is sapping the 
morals of society and endangering the safety of the State. The 
right of caution and of advice will be denied by none. As to 
choice of associates, is there harm in admitting positive precepts 
in accord with the life required ? 

One step further, upon which there may not be the same 
unanimity of sentiment. 

The legal requirements as to the qualification of teachers 
develop the purpose of the State in their enactment. That pur- 
pose is, that the high character so zealously insisted upon shall 
have influence over the lives of pupils. To this end there should 
be no restraints put upon the teacher's use of means which will 
secure the most successful accomplishment of the purpose of the 
State. 

With a Christian teacher — and our public schools are to-day 
largely in the hands of such — the Bible read without comment 
serves as a potent means of increasing moral influence. 

Myself a firm believer in the authority of the sacred Scriptures, 
I follow what I believe to be their teachings when I say that they 
address themselves to the consciences of men, winning, not forc- 
ing their acceptance. Requirement of their use is hardly in con- 
sonance with their spirit, and prohibition of their use is in the 
highest degree illiberal and sectarian. The teacher is under obli- 
gations to exert the highest moral influence of which he is capa- 
ble. State laws enforce this obligation. In meeting it, the 
teacher should be left free to act within the limits of regard to 
the rights of others. No book contains better maxims, no code 
of morals more pertinent precepts, than the Bible, and its use 
should not be prohibited to any discreet teacher. 

Religion is but the expression of a universal acknowledgment 
of dependence upon a power outside of, and almost universally 



156 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

higher than, ourselves. This idea of dependence enforces certain 
obligations. These obligations may, nay, must be impressed, or 
violence is done to our natures. Instruction in duties to our God 
and to our fellows should never degenerate into the inculcation 
of opinions as to minor and non-essential points of belief or 
polity. No one questions the right of the State to enforce the 
positive inculcation of the duty of patriotism, nor is this duty 
the less pressing because he who is to enforce it may have certain 
views upon civil polity which may make him a partisan in his 
own acts. 

What patriotism is to partisanship religion is to sectarianism. 
Each is the whole in its spirit and essence universally received, 
while the form may vary with the varying mood of the indi- 
vidual. 

The genius of our Government forbids only the spirit of the 
proselyte, the trade of the partisan. It favors the life of the 
patriot, the influence of the man who goes forth full of the 
catholic spirit of that religion which is drawn from the Bible. 

' ' The worst education which teaches simplicity and self- 
denial is better than the best which teaches all else but this." 



APPENDIX B. 



WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE BOYS?* 

" O, 'tis a parlous boy ; 
| Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable." 

— Shakespeare, Richard III. 

Thus sings the poet. But what are boys in prose ? The 
physiologist will tell you that they belong to the kingdom Ani- 
malia, subkingdom Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Bimana, 
etc., which, being interpreted, is an animal with a backbone, 
more or less flexible, according to constitution inherited or anger 
aroused, drawing his sustenance from the mother, sometimes 
even into the period of manhood ; having two hands fitted to 
seize whatever attracts the eye, whether it be the bright flame, 
the gaudy picture, or the irised bubble for the child — the pretty 
toy, the luscious fruit, or the glittering gold for the youth, and 
often without wise regard to the nice distinction that should be 
observed between meum and tuum ; hands fitted to hold firmly 
to a playmate's top or marble, to a cat's tail, to the limb of a 
tree, or the rungs of a ladder, if by so doing he can tease his 
friend or alarm his mamma ; hands fitted to store away treasures 
in a pocket so capacious and so well filled as to suggest his 
classification among Marsupialia ; hands adapted to skillful use 
of the knife in carving initials (his own or hers) upon tree, fence- 
panel, or school -desk, of the crayon and the pencil, through the 

* An address delivered before the National Educational Association, at 
Minneapolis, August 4, 1875. 



158 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

use of which he is able to express his admiration or disgust ; 
hands that can wield a bat, and thus permit him to display the 
color of his hose upon the field ; that can send a quiver along the 
fishing-rod giving appearance of life to the alluring bait ; that 
can guide the fleet pony's course or dip well the oar ; hands 
whose great value is recognized at meal-times, and which would 
be missed greatly between meals ; hands which in more compact 
form may serve the purpose of defending outraged rights or of 
maintaining the right of superiority of strength ; hands, too, 
which may be beautifully helpful of -mother, sister, or friend in 
the discharge of those kind offices to which the worst boy is not 
at all times a stranger. These distinguishing hands "are re- 
moved," as has been well said, "from the locomotive system and 
attached to the cephalic system " that they may serve the head 
or the heart with readiness. 

We are thus brought to the psychologist who describes the 
boy as a germ full of possibilities, but needing sunshine and 
moisture that it may grow to fruitage. 

While revolving in my mind a fit phrase for a suggested 
thought, I was instantly relieved of embarrassment as my eye fell 
upon an article by Miss Brackett in The New England Journal 
of Education, entitled The Teacher in Dreamland. In gratitude 
I shall quote occasionally, as it may suit the progress of my theme, 
the key to the whole being found in these words : "Children 
are in much the same state through all their childhood that we 
older people are in when we dream. As with us when asleep, 
so with the child. He has no past nor future, but lives in a con- 
tinual present. He would choose one bite of an apple to-day 
rather than a barrelful to-morrow. As he grows from childhood 
to manhood, he, of course, grows out of the imagination land and 
into that of comparison and judgment, as we do when we wake." 

All the powers needed in the strong man are in existence in 
the boy. They are immature, not settled each to its proper place ; 
not yet adjusted each to the other ; now one, now another, com- 
ing to the surface and challenging particular attention, but, under 
skillful direction, developing processes which will articulate the 
parts and make in time a symmetrical whole, a living organism 
destined for noble uses. 



APPENDIX B. 159 

Hence our inquiries are not complete until we have asked the 
instructor about our boys. The boy in school is an unsolved 
riddle to most teachers. The wise instructor knows well the 
value of the restless longing of one, of the quick perception of 
another ; of the inflammable temper of this one, of the perfect 
imperturbability of that one ; of John's conceit, of Thomas's self- 
distrust, of William's impetuosity, and of James's sluggishness. 
He understands thoroughly the spring of Ben's bubbling mirth, 
and the deep well of Isaac's gloom. He expects diversity in 
tendencies, and is not disappointed when one appears with the 
nine digits under perfect command in all possible instances, and 
another enveloped in a cipher. He will not be surprised to find 
one boy who can marshal the trooping letters in the form de- 
manded for any English word, while another makes worse work 
of it than' would a raw recruit in directing the movements of dis- 
ciplined soldiers who, in strict obedience to the orders given, 
make a laughing-stock of the officer in command. He knows in 
advance that one boy will as naturally take to arithmetic as does 
another to fishing or to hunting birds' nests ; that one will read 
readily and well, while another will never give the sense of the 
author read, unless by accident ; that written forms come in all 
their beauty from the finger-ends of one, while another laboring 
with both tongue and pen fails to leave intelligible traces of what 
he thought to do ; that one can tell whether he Tcnows or not, but 
his seat-mate Tcnows and can not tell. 

He is sure that one boy will be distressingly good, and an- 
other fearfully mischievous, and yet another willfully vicious. 
He appreciates the fact that in each of these surface appearances 
there is something of value which may, with care and by proper 
affiliation with other forces not so apparent but as real, eject the 
evil and furnish a home for the good. 

The question comes with force to every instructor, "What 
shall we do with the boys ? " these two-handed torments — these 
merry mischief-makers — these willful will-o'-the-wisps — these 
indeterminate intellects — these germs of greatness or seed-buds 
of sin. 

What shall we do with them? What can we do without 
them ? The men of the future are in the boys of the present. In 



160 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

the wild, rollicking youngsters of to-day you may see the staid 
men of affairs of the twentieth century. 

If in the remaining part of this essay I shall confine myself 
to the troublesome boys, I need offer no apology, for I am sure 
that you have expected nothing else since your eyes fell upon the 
title given in the programme. 

Some analysis of the constituent elements of the boy-nature 
seems essential to our purpose. 

Underlying the whole, and interpreting the peculiarities ob- 
servable, is the dream-life of the child already alluded to and 
described as the time when " everything seems indifferent to us," 
because there is no conscious " continuity of existence." There 
is no recognized relation between the act of the moment and the 
effect which the future will make apparent. 

Very little benefit comes from past experiences, since the boy 
sees not the similarity of tendencies. To him each act which he 
commits is independent of all other acts, neither modifying nor 
modified by any other. What appear to older heads as glaring 
inconsistencies do not disturb him in the least, for his "imagina- 
tion is evidently awake, " while his ' ' faculties of comparison and 
judgment are asleep." Duty means but little to him. Inclina- 
tion, often as fickle as the wind, is his master. His emotional 
nature runs riot with his reason. He can be good, bad, and in- 
different all in the same day, and perhaps every hour of the 
day. Animal spirits abound, and they find vent in a thousand 
ways. He is frisky as a lamb, if his disposition be lamb-like ; 
playful as a kitten, if he be on the watch for prey ; mettlesome as 
a colt, if he feel the stirrings of imprisoned power. His young 
animal life holds sway, and it is not always under the control of 
reason nor of will. Fanciful suggestions are as real, for the time, 
as the most sober truths, and have as much value to his mind. 

This introduces another element, that of implicit trust. Full 
as he is of rhythm of physical movement, he knows nothing of 
figures of speech. He can balance his body, but he can not 
weigh words. All words to him express one thought each, or 
no thought at all. He believes what he is told. The old nurse's 
tales of ghosts and of sprites are not yet shaken off my mind. 
Reason has not yet worn out my credulity. 



APPENDIX B. 1(51 

This ready assent to all that is told the boy indicates an un- 
limited capacity for reception, and accounts for an irrepressible 
curiosity, another important element in boy-nature. He hangs 
with rapt attention upon the lips of a good story-teller. He de- 
vours with eager eyes all naming posters and the street proces- 
sions which they have heralded. He fears lest his companion 
shall see more of the antics of the organ-grinder's monkey than 
have fallen to his lot to witness. The tap of a drum, the waving 
of a flag, the alarm of fire, will add wings to his feet, and crowded 
to the front in all scenes of excitement or of danger will be found 
the boys of the neighborhood. 

With curiosity comes ambition. Desire to excel in whatever 
happens to be the pursuit of the moment is far more constant 
than is the thing pursued. In leaping, running, ball-throwing, 
climbing) shouting, whistling, he hates to be outdone. He will 
venture further than the last boy who tried it upon any path of 
danger that is open to him, and will open new paths if unsuc- 
cessful in the old ones. Failing to be at the head of boys of his 
age and size, he will enter a company where he will be lord, even 
though he descends through several grades before he reaches the 
place where he can win the coveted honor. 

But, in spite of this last element, there is a keen sense of jus- 
tice in almost every boy. His own opinion of what is just may 
be based upon very insufficient evidence— it may be held without 
much color of right, but what appears to him to be justice must 
be done though the heavens fall. His opinions, too, may be 
colored by his interests, and justice to himself may be his sole 
consideration. He may not recognize at all the rights of others, 
but he will soon show that he recognizes his own rights, and that 
he will defend them to the last extremity. 

The love of approbation gives spur to ambition. The boy 
loves to do and to dare, not alone for the consciousness of ability 
to do, but because of the smiles which will reward his effort. 

The boy is intensely partisan. He becomes judicial only as 
he begins to reason. His hate is as strong as his love, and he 
can assign no ground for either except his always ready "be- 
cause." He espouses warmly the cause of the teacher whom he 
respects, and becomes the bitter enemy of the one who fails to 
12 



162 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

comprehend him. He is loyal to his convictions, be they well- 
founded or ill-founded. He is always true to his party, whether 
it be the party in power in the school-room or not. This fact 
no teacher can slightingly overlook. 

But to the last I have reserved the most important element 
demanding consideration. It is that incomprehensible vital force 
which asserts itself in all animal nature. The boy feels it, but 
he can not understand it. It is the man in the boy pressing for 
development. Almost incredible stories are told of the growth 
power of vegetables — the lifting of immense weights by the 
growing of a pumpkin — the bursting of strong bands by the 
inherent growth force of a confined potato. These forces are 
susceptible of measurement, and are tangible because dealing 
with matter ; but the man-life in the boy-germ is just as real, 
though not as readily estimated. The presence of this interior 
force sometimes produces strange freaks. We find premature 
men as well as immature men. There may be hot-bed forcing in 
the human as in the vegetable world. The growth of the man- 
life may be repressed or it may be pushed forward. Proof is 
adduced in the boys who ape men's manners and dress and habits, 
as well as in the men who are but boys in action and in fitness 
for life's work. The boys who need the most skillful training 
are those who have been carried away by the tide of man-life 
swelling within them, and who have assumed as the motto of 
their lives, "What man has done, boys may do." 

Thus having placed briefly before myself these important ele- 
ments in the boy-nature, namely, a natural tendency to ignore 
both past and future, seeking present gratification, an implicit 
trust in what he hears, an insatiable curiosity to hear and see all 
that is new and strange, an ambition to excel in whatever comes 
to hand, largely for the sake of the approval it brings, a real de- 
votion to the party securing his support, an earnest desire to see 
justice done — to himself, at least — and that hidden life-force 
which every boy feels, but which no boy comprehends — the ques- 
tion comes, "How shall we treat the being having such elements 
in composition ? " 

Briefly I would answer : Make this boy-life a study, recalling 
experiences if we are men, and, if not, quickening our observa- 



APPENDIX B. 163 

tion. Have no panacea. Recognize individuality. Educate, 
never break, the will of the boy. By all means consistent with 
justice and right, win the boy's support. Have a tender regard 
for his rights, correcting gently any misapprehension he may 
entertain as to their extent. Encourage self-reliance. Exercise 
watchful care in the truest sympathy. In the further elucidation 
of these topics it is not my purpose to follow the order thus 
stated, but to give general illustrations with such particular 
applications as may be suggested. ' 

Before attempting particular study of individual cases, some 
simple classification may be made which will admit of general 
treatment in large measure, and to the discussion of which the 
principles already enunciated will be found frequently applicable. 
At the outset, then, troublesome boys will be found as belonging 
to one of' two classes : 

1. Those with whom bad conduct is a fault. 

2. Those whose bad conduct is crime. 

The treatment of a fault should be radically different from 
the punishment of a crime. It has been too much the practice 
to ignore this distinction in the correction of offenders. The 
fault will be found apparent in offenses against convenience, but 
crime is an offense against right living. The fault concerns 
mainly exterior behavior ; the crime corrupts the interior life. 
Crime embraces fault, but fault is by no means a crime. 

In a few well-chosen words, Mr. Sill, Superintendent of 
Schools of Detroit, addressed the teachers of Chicago, impressing 
the importance of this distinction, on the ground that the classing 
of sins against convenience or good order with sins against moral 
purity always belittles the latter in the minds of boys. If rest- 
lessness, whispering, inattention, and like faults, bad as they 
may be, are to furnish occasion for stigmatizing the one who 
commits them as "the worst boy in school," unworthy to associ- 
ate with his less faulty fellows, what greater punishment can be 
inflicted for profanity, lying, obscenity, and like offenses against 
good morals ? Such a course, instead of tending to correct a 
fault, will foster a crime. The child does not reason for himself. 
He presumes the teacher to have reasoned, and accepts on trust 
the judgment rendered in the punishment. He goes out believ- 



164 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

ing that it is no worse for him to swear than to whistle, to steal 
than to be uneasy in his seat, to lie than to whisper, no worse to 
be obscene than to be tardy at school. Faults need correction 
lest they lead to crime, but the judgment rendered against faults 
must in no case be that which crime merits. 

But faulty boys are not all in the same class. Here is one 
who is neglected at home. He has an improvident father, a dis- 
heartened or a neglected mother, perhaps no mother at all. He 
is in school, ragged and dirty. Of sheer necessity he has kept 
down pride, and his ambition, thwarted in the direction of a re- 
spectable appearance, leads him to brave out the reproaches of 
his fellows and to assert his independence of rules of decorum. 
His discipline needs to be that of a wash-bowl, a comb, and a 
brush ; and a neat suit of clothes upon his back will do more 
than the rod. Many a boy I have seen tided over the shoals of 
bad conduct by being encouraged or helped into a tidy habit. 
Here is another who has a physical infirmity, not apparent to the 
teacher, the exact nature of which the boy does not realize. 
Forgetful of the past, careless of the future, he gratifies present 
impulse at the expense of good behavior. He does not feel sick, 
but he does feel a little ugly, and the least bit of annoyance of 
his teacher will gratify him beyond measure. A physician's pre- 
scription is the best corrective. While I do not believe, with a 
celebrated physician, that a few leeches applied to the nose will 
change the moral nature, I have had many cases of ill -conduct 
brought to my notice which are, without the least shadow of 
doubt, the direct result of a disordered body. This is especially 
true of those cases of sudden relapse into sullen or willful mis- 
conduct, so distressing to the teacher because of his inability to 
account for them. Intentional wrong-doing is the farthest from 
the boy's thoughts, but an evil spirit seems to have possessed him 
beyond his power of resistance, and an evil spirit prompts the 
teacher to make an example of such an unlooked-for infraction 
of rules lest advantage be taken of this usually good boy's mis- 
conduct to the overthrow of good order. In such cases of sudden 
lapses, the wise teacher will look carefully for the incipient stages 
of disease. 

Such as have inherited a nervous organism are objects of 



APPENDIX B. 165 

sympathy. Repression increases the difficulty. These are the 
mischievous ones, restless, eager to find a channel through which 
their activity may flow. Mischief is only misdirected energy. 
Its spring is the source of the greatest blessing if confined within 
proper limits. Levees may confine it, but it can not be dammed. 

" He who checks a child in terror, 
Stops its play or stills its song, 
Not alone commits an error, 
But a grievous moral wrong. 

" Give it play and never fear it ; 
Active life is no defect ; 
Never, never break its spirit ; 
Curb it only to direct. 

" Would you stop the flowing river ? 
Think you it would cease to flow % 
Onward it must move forever — 
Better teach it where to go." 

You are all familiar with plant-life. The twig, feeling the 
push of the life-principle in the seed, hurries upward toward the 
light. You may place a stone upon it. Obeying the inner im- 
pulse, it finds its way to the air. The more frequent the effort 
at repression, the more constant the determination toward free 
air and unobstructed light. But what distortion results from 
such treatment, unless, forsooth, a more welcome death comes 
to the relief of the tortured plant, and too late reveals the un- 
wisdom of the cultivator 1 Many a crooked, distorted man of 
to-day bears the marks of the weighing down of his youthful 
energy. " Oh, that I might do something!" is the agonizing 
cry of the nervous boy ; and he is driven to desperation by the 
cold command, "Keep still !" "I can not, oh, I can not !" 
cries the boy. l ' You must ! " is the reply. Thus the conflict 
goes on, and, under an enforced quiet exterior, there are boilings 
of hate and plottings of ill which the unwise teacher must realize 
too late for correction. 

There are two classes of faulty boys whose presence in the 
school-room gives occasion for flank movements and indirect ap- 
proaches. They are the keenly sensitive and the naturally stub- 



166 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

born boys. The former watch for slights and provoke them; 
the latter seem to have been born against their will, and to have 
grown up with their feet and hands resolutely planted forward. 
The former are keen-eyed; the latter stiff -backed. Side ap- 
proaches suit both best. Issues must be avoided. With the 
former the objective point must be the heart ; the confidence 
and affection must be secured. With the latter the will stands 
most in the way ; it needs not removal, but replacing. Instead 
of lying across the path of progress, it should be brought into 
line with it. Like the restless spirit, alluded to a moment since, 
it needs curbing, directing, training — not repression, nor break- 
ing. A broken will is to me one of the saddest spectacles. It 
is the broken mainspring of the watch; the escaped steam; the 
wildly rushing but soon spent torrent. There is before me the 
picture of a boy of many years since, whose will, turbulent and 
apparently resistless, was broken as the result of a bitterly con- 
tested conflict. Years wore on, to him years of ill success. He 
was conscious that he could do nothing. His health was good, 
his appetite voracious, and his indolence unlimited. To such a 
degree did the consciousness of his inertia grow upon him, that 
after being waited upon, even to the carrying of wood and water 
to his room by a lady of threescore and ten years of age for 
some months, he found relief in the coward's resort — a bullet, 
that took away the little that was left of his wasted life. 

As I approach the consideration of the class whose conduct 
is crime, I can not refrain from expressing the conviction that 
some are found in this class who are driven thither by the im- 
proper treatment of their faults, by a lack of good judgment in 
their earlier management. A boy's ambition leading him in the 
direction of present gratification, especially when healthful home 
influences are not surrounding him, is the fruitful source of crime. 
Anxious to take a man's place, he puts on the habits most easily 
formed, and which are the prominent habits of the men whose 
company he can most easily reach — the idlers, the loungers, those 
who, having nothing to do, busy themselves in recruiting for the 
haunts of the idle. It is useless to sit down to reason with such 
boys about the turpitude of their conduct. 

To quote again from the article before alluded to: " While 



APPENDIX B. 157 

he is a child and under the domain of imagination, his wrong- 
doings can hardly be said to be immoral, nor do they ever look to 
him as they do to us, who compare his present wrong action with 
our conception of the perfect future man as he exists in our 
minds. ... If he is sensitive, he thinks perhaps, as we enlarge 
upon the sin, that he ought to feel very naughty, but somehow 
he can't, and in our zeal we are doing him an evil instead of 
good." 

Our safer course lies in encouraging innocent pastimes where 
the boy shall find recreation and amusement within suitable limits 
and amid proper associates. Watchfulness of the sports of boys, 
and participation in the same on the part of their elders are wise 
and sure preventives of corrupt practices. 

I can not refrain from urging upon parents, though not perti- 
nent to my subject, the discouragement of boys who desire to 
leave quiet country homes for the cities, where idlers abound and 
seeds of crime are thickly sown. "We are growing away from the 
conviction that " there is no place like home " for the boy, and 
are making the boy believe that home is no place for him. 
While this tendency continues, and parents spend so much time 
in organizing associations for the benefit of the depraved that 
they have no time left for their own children, they may find re- 
cruits for their charitable institutions from their own offspring. 
It may be well for many parents to contribute largely toward the 
building of reformatory institutions in our large cities, for it is 
not beyond the region of possibility that their heirs may thus 
derive benefit from the investment. 

To return : Let the boys be kept as boys until they can wear 
easily the robes of men. Their wants must be supplied by those 
who, under the guidance of kind judgment, feel the throbbings 
of young hearts and are quick in sympathy. The boys must not 
be tossed aside with the remark, "They are nothing but boys." 
They have rights which challenge respect, and, while the boy 
should be content to keep the boy's place, he must be secured 
in the possession of that place. Cordial approval of what is 
right or generous or manly in his conduct will open the way for 
successful reproof of what is wrong or mean or ungentlemanly. 
Put yourself in the way of being won to the good part of the 



168 SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 

bad boy, and from that standpoint you may be able to correct 
much that is bad. The sense of justice is often keenest in the 
wickedest boy in school, especially when displayed toward himself. 

His independence may serve a good purpose in the correction 
of offenses by making him feel the burden of responsibility. 
Experience has taught me that bad boys love to earn their way 
back to good society and to a forfeited place in their class. I 
can point with pride to several such manly fellows who have 
been trusted, by steps made longer as their strength increased, 
to walk back into favor, and who are proud in the consciousness 
of having conquered evil propensities. 

The love of achievement furnishes the teacher a ready lever. 
Let the boy have something to do, and place before him a motive 
for doing which appeals to present good. Let the thing done be 
regarded in its most favorable light, as a reward for the effort 
put forth. This caution only : the act required must be within 
the ability of the boy, and so conditioned as to make the accom- 
plishment of the first stage easily attainable — each successive 
stage recognizing the value of the strength gained by the pre- 
ceding. Self-reliance is of slow growth, but it is a growth. If 
but a single line of procedure were to be marked for a troubled 
teacher's guidance, it should be, " Give the boy something to do — 
somebody to love." 

But as for those who are not reached by better surroundings 
and quicker sympathies, and who do not feel the weight of 
responsibility nor the spur of wisely directed ambition, the 
teacher must secure the removal of the offenders from contact 
with those who are corrupted by their presence — not to a house 
of correction, or a reformatory, where punishment is kept in the 
foreground ; nor yet to the street ; but to the walls of a pleasant 
school-room, presided over by one selected with special refer- 
ence to his fitness for such work, where the advantages of good 
instruction shall be free and wisely adapted to the end sought. 
Here the bad boy may be free for a time to follow the bent of 
his own mind as to particular studies until he shall have a new 
interest born within him, and whence he may return to the com- 
panionship of his earlier friends so soon as he shall be found 
upon the highway toward self-control. 



APPENDIX B. 169 

A bad boy is not of necessity a fool. The reverse is, in most 
cases, true. He has elements of strength, and he admires the 
same in others. He is quick to discover weakness, and he 
despises from the bottom of his heart anything that looks like 
vacillation. Consistent, manly firmness wins his regard. It is 
vain for a man of weak mind or of weak principles, no matter 
how sedulously he may attempt to conceal them, to assume the 
training of a vicious boy. To the keen sight of such a boy the 
veil of concealment is transparent. The teacher must be as keen- 
sighted, as quick-witted, and as fertile in expedient as his trouble- 
some pupil. Holding a superior place, he must show that the 
place is his of right. Recognized superiority held in ready 
sympathy will secure cheerful obedience. 

Conscious that I have touched but very lightly upon some of 
the more important methods of dealing with troublesome boys — 
for my time has been limited — I am deeply conscious that one 
channel of influence has not been pointed out ; and here, at the 
last, I call your attention to the channel opened by Divine power 
and supplied from sources reached only by him who humbly 
waits and promptly prays for ' ' that wisdom from above, first 
pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of 
mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypoc- 
risy." 

In closing, I would take to myself the injunction, ''Keep 
your heart young." And may the time never come when you 
shall feel like echoing the sad plaint of Coleridge : 

" When I was young. Ah ! woful when ! 
Ah ! for the change 'twixt now and then ! " 



INDEX. 



Adams, Charles F., Jr., quoted, 

137. 
Alabama, State supervision in, 

12,, 14. 
Appointment of teachers, 65. 
Arkansas, State supervision in, 

12, 14. 
Associations of teachers, 16, 146. 

Bacon, Lord, view of questioning, 

109. 
Bible, The, its use in schools, 153, 

155. 
Books, influence of, 154. 
Boys, as viewed by the physiolo- 
gist, 157. 
as viewed by the psychologist, 

158. 
as viewed by the instructor, 

159. 
bad, how managed, 164, 166. 
nature of, 160. 
Brackett, Anna C, quoted, 158, 

167. 
Bradley, John E., quoted, 28. 
Brown, George P., quoted, 35. 
Buisson, M., quoted, 86. 
Bureau of Education, importance 

of, 16, 23. 



California, State supervision in, 

12. 
Calkins, N. A., quoted, 42. 
Certificates, graded, 34. 

State, 143. 
Child's absorption in the present, 

96, 158. 
Church, The, relation to school af- 
fairs, 5. 
moral education through, 150. 
City superintendent, qualifica- 
tions of, 39. 
training-school, 145. 
Classes, within a grade, 92, 94. 
diminished in higher grades, 
94. 
Colden, Cadwallader, referred to, 

86. 
Colleges, need of high school, 90. 

chair of Pedagogics in, 139. 
Colorado, State supervision in, 13. 
Conduct of bad boys, a crime, 

166 ; a fault, 163. 
Confidence in teachers, 50. 

in boys, 166. 
Connecticut, State supervision in, 

9, 12, 14. 
Cooper, Mrs. S. B., quoted, 71. 
County high schools, 34. 



172 



SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 



County superintendent, qualifica- 
tions of, 28, 32. 
supervision, 14. 
Courts, decisions of, upon high 

schools, 84. 
Course of study, 68. 

servant, not master, 139. 
Curiosity, child's motive power, 
161. 

Delaware, State supervision in, 

10, 13, 14. 
Development of city superintend- 

ency, 137. 
Diplomas, State, 143. 
Discipline, teacher's relation to, 
126, 127. 
superintendent's inspection of, 

130. 
methods of, 131. 
mechanical, 131. 
controlled by love or fear, 132. 
by corporal punishment, 133. 
illustrations of, 134. 
of bad boys, 157. 
Dismissal of teachers, 65. 

Examinations of teachers, 15, 34, 
50. 

into character of teachers, 123, 

of pupils for promotion, 91, 95. 
101. 

of pupils as a stimulus, 95. 

of pupils as a testing process, 
99. 

of pupils, a source of unifica- 
tion of work, 105. 

of pupils, written or oral, 106. 

superintendent's duty in, 107. 

percentage not an end, 110. 

an aid to teachers, 100. 



Examinations, an aid to superin- 
tendents, 100. 

principal's responsibility in, 101. 

into principles rather than lan- 
guage, 102. 

illustrations of, 103. 

E. E. White upon, 104. 

Fitch, Dr., quoted, 109. 
Flexibility of administration es- 
sential, 104. 
Florida, State supervision in, 12. 
Franklin, letter referred to, 86. 
Freedom of teachers, 57, 74, 125. 

Georgia, State supervision in, 9, 

13, 14. 
Gradation of schools, 68. 

different views of, 91. 

an ideal, 94. 

Hancock, J., quoted, 89. 
Helpfulness to teachers, 62. 
High schools, county, 34. 
views of M. Buisson upon, 86. 
benefits of, to the State, 87. 
importance of, in an economical 

view, 87. 
from an industrial standpoint, 

88. 
from an educational stand- 
point, 89. 
home schools, 91. 
needed by colleges and univer- 
sities, 90. 
Home, The, moral education in, 
150. 

Illinois, State supervision in, 12. 
Indiana, State supervision in, 12, 
14. 



INDEX. 



1?3 



Inspection of teachers' work, 56. 

for study of discipline, 130. 
Institutes, County Normal, 31. 
Iowa, State supervision in, 12. 

Jefferson, letters referred to, 86. 
Jewell, Dr. J. S., quoted, 117. 
Justice to teachers, 61. 
to bad boys, 161. 

Kansas, State supervision in, 12. 
Keane, Bishop J. J., quoted, 122. 
Kentucky, State supervision in, 

10, 12. 
Kiehle, D. L., quoted, 144. 
Kindergarten, 71, 114. 

Leadership, superintendent's, 49. 
Legislation, moral sanctions of, 

152. 
court decisions, 84. 
Louisiana, State supervision in, 

13, 14. 

Maine, State supervision in, 10, 

12, 14. 
Mann, Horace, quoted, 143, 151. 
Manual training, discussion of, 77, 

80, 82. 
Maryland, State supervision in, 9, 

12, 14. 
Massachusetts, State supervision 

in, 9, 12, 14. 
Michigan, State supervision in, 12. 
Middleton, Dr. W. D., quoted, 117. 
Mill, J. S., quoted, 151. 
Minnesota, State supervision in, 

12. 
Mississippi, State supervision in, 

13, 14. 



Missouri, State supervision in, 12. 
Montana, State supervision in, 13. 
Moral and religious instruction, 

122, 149. 
Moral sense universal, 149. 
Moral influence universal, 149. 
Mo wry, W. A., quoted, 87. 

National Council of Education 

quoted, 80, 117, 118. 
Nebraska, State supervision in, 12. 
Nevada, State supervision in, 12, 

14. 
New Hampshire, State supervision 

in, 9, 12. 
New Jersey, State supervision in, 

9, 12, 14. 
New York, State supervision in, 

9, 12, 14. 
Normal institutes, county, 31. 
Normal schools a necessity, 142. 
North Carolina, State supervision 

in, 10, 13. 
North Dakota, State supervision 

in, 13. 

Ohio, State supervision in, 12, 14. 
Oregon, State supervision in, 13. 

Patience with teachers, 60. 

Payne, W. H., quoted, 58. 

Pedagogy in colleges and univer- 
sities, 139. 

Pennsylvania, State supervision 
in, 9, 12, 14. 

Philbrick, J. D., quoted, 127. 

Physical education, 114. 

Press, The, as a helper, 147. 

Principals as superintendents, 17, 
105. 



174 



SCHOOL SUPERVISION. 



Promotions of pupils : superin- 
tendents' duty in, 92, 95, 97. 

teachers' opportunity in, 95, 96. 

without examination, 101. 
Pupils, discipline of, 126, appen- 

" dix B. 

Questions for examination of pu- 
pils, 97, 110. 
of teachers, 52. 

Questioning as a test of knowl- 
edge, 109. 

Kecesses— discussed, 116. 

Rhode Island, State supervision 

in, 9, 12, 14. 
Rickoff, A. J., quoted, 114. 
Rotation in office, 142. 

Sabin, H., quoted, 125. 

Salaries of teachers attached to 
place, 141. 

School defined, 18. 

School hours and recesses, 114, 116. 

Secular education, 151. 

Sectarianism forbidden, 156. 

Sill, J. B. M., quoted, 163. 

South Carolina, State supervision 
in, 9, 12. 

South Dakota, State supervision 
in, 13. 

State, The, moral education for 
and by, 150. 

Superintendent of schools — an ad- 
viser, 2. 
an examiner, 15, 34, 50, 91, 95, 

101. 
an executive officer, 136. 
a visitor, 129. 
freedom of, 137. 



Superintendent, city, qualifica- 
tions of, 39. 

county, qualifications of, 28, 32. 

State, qualifications of, 24. 
Superintendent, city, relations to 
Board of Education, 136. 

to course of study, 68. 

to discipline, 126, 129. 

to moral instruction, 122. 

to patrons, 111. 

to physical education, 114. 

to principals, 105. 

to pupils, 43. 

to pupils' promotion, 95. 

to teachers, 49, 140. 
Superintendents' tenure of office, 

142. 
Support of schools, provisions by 

United States, 6. 
Supervision — universal, 1. 

of schools essential, 3, 8. 

incidental, 16. 

partial, 17. 

professional, 19. 

historical sketch of, 4. 

of material appliances, 137. 

table of statistics, 12. 

Teachers, appointment of, 65. 
examination of, 15, 34, 50. 
dismissal of, 65. 
freedom of, 57, 74, 125. 
inexperienced, placing of, 140, 

141. 
qualifications of, 152. 
transfer of, 65. 
trial of, 56. 

discipline by, 126, 127. 
educational literature for, 147. 
general culture of, 147. 



INDEX. 



175 



Teachers, professional schools for, 

142. 
professional spirit needed, 141. 
supervision of, 129. 
Tennessee, State supervision in, 

10,13,14. 
Texas, State supervision in, 10, 

13, 14. 
Thompson, C. 0., quoted, 82, 

88. 
Town supervision, 14. 
Training-school, city, 145. 

Unification of school-work, 105, 

109. 
Unit of organization, county, 8. 
district, 8. 
parish, 8. 
town, 8. 
United States, unfavorable com- 
parison with other countries 



because of rapid increase of 
population, 141. 

Ventilation of school-houses, 119. 

Vermont, State supervision in, 10, 
12, 14. 

Virginia, State supervision in, 9, 
13. 

Visiting schools by superintend- 
ent, 129. 

Washington's Farewell Address 

referred to, 86. 
Washington, State supervision in, 

13. 
West Virginia, State supervision 

in, 10, 12. 
White, E. E., quoted, 66, 104. 108. 
Wisconsin, State supervision in, 12. 

normal schools, 144. 
Woodward, C. M., quoted, 78. 



THE END. 



